conceptsketchesconceptsketchesconceptsketches--

So after I patched up the Princesses a bit.. I realized that the Koopa family has its fair share of plot holes and redesign needs too.. Mostly in Kamek and Bowser--

So I took some time to doodle the koopa kids and experiment! I thought a lot about their body types, their biology, their sibling relationships and dynamics.. and though I still have a long ways to go, I think this was a nice start! :}}

Space Orcs AU yet again, because I wanted to tweak Dal a little bit, wanted to draw his dog again, and draw B-Junes again, all in one go owo)b

And also wanted to make another space background, thanks to Mario RPG. Stars are pretty...

Anyway more tidbits under a readmore, here we go!

Bowser Junior

During an experiment that Iggy and Ludwig were performing in hopes of improving the travel speeds of their spaceships, an accident caused all eight members of the Royal Brood to be pulled into multiple wormholes and scattered across the cosmos. Junior ended up on a planet filled with Dino Piranhas, and struggled to survive until a trio of strange, squishy creatures found and seemingly adopted him.

While Junior tried keeping his distance out of fear that these squishy folk were actually kidnappers, it didn't take long for his curiosity and need for comfort to overpower any of his fears. He bonded fastest with the purple-maned one; often riding piggyback around the ship or curling up next to him and his fuzzy friend when it's time to sleep. He turns out to be a quick learner when it comes to their languages, easily figuring out short sentences in English and, by courtesy of the red-clad one, several curse words in Italian.

Dalex

A fifteen-year-old human who was snatched in the dead of night while taking his dog out for a late-night bathroom break. Despite his near-overwhelming fear, he teamed up with Mario and Luigi to hijack the ship the three of them were imprisoned on, successfully taking control of the newly-dubbed Starship Mario. It takes a while for Dal to actually warm up to the Bros., but regularly talking about their respective families helps him avoid cracking from under the stress and homesickness.

After rescuing Bowser Jr., Dal becomes the turtle kid's primary caretaker, along with some of the younger Koopalings once they too are found. Before meeting Iggy and subsequently getting a translator built, Dal taught Junior how to speak bits and pieces of English, and can understand his words better than Mario or Luigi. Think of it like "babysitter learning a kid's speech patterns while other people still hear gibberish."

Viridi

Dal's loyal companion and fuzzy baby child. He was abducted alongside his owner and stayed as close to Dal as possible during both their confinement and eventual starship takeover. 'Distraction' was the name of this dog's game, barking at their captors with varying degrees of success during the fight. Hard to tell if they'd never heard a dog bark before or they were actually scared by it, but they got an old-fashioned Mario Bros. Beatdown regardless.

Compared to all the other "crewmembers," Viridi's the most calm, even excited about what awaits them on their new journey. He likes the odd scaly child; those claws give the greatest scritches he's ever gotten in his life (sorry Dally). Of course, being excited and curious isn't always a good thing, as Viridi's go-to method of following his nose can lead to trouble. Of all the times to lose the leash, it had to be during a space adventure... =_="

to the OP: What was your thought process when designing the characters on your blog? For example, why did you make Topper wear a normal tie? Did you change characters to draw them easier or does it simply go with the style of your blog better?

Oh boy, I could type a whole essay, but I'll try to keep this mildly short...

My goal when first setting up the blog, unlike my numerous Koopaling iterations before it, was to make the characters seem more accurate to their in-game counterparts. Shorter, stubbier, bigger/smaller eyes depending on the character, etc. Buuut, drawing characters exactly like that doesn't really match my "natural" style. Overtime, designs started to shift to be cartoonier and dramatacized like how they originally would have been.

With the Broodals, I kinda sorta borrowed parts of their designs from @maggie4thewin (Rango & Spewart specifically, as I've mentioned before with their outfits, and Topper's hat card came from her, too) But this time around, I also tried to make them more original instead of exactly matching the game. While attempting to make Rango, I felt something was "missing." (He was the last Broodal to be finished!) The design just looked kinda bland... Aaand, that's how he ended up with inverted legs and a wrapped up arm. Some things changed over time for them, like their hair and whiskers, but less changed than with the Koopalings, I think.

Btw, with the bow ties- Since you asked: I just thought it was weird that with FOUR fancy, formally dressed rabbits, not a single one had a regular tie. Especially when considering the accessories that they DO have! And why did I give it to Topper specifically? Well, in this AU, he's short, but he ain't THAT short! The tie matches his "vertical style" better. And also, I feel that the tie better aligns with his stern, serious personality. Especially when compared to Rango's goofy, care-free self. A tie is usually more formal than a bow tie. (There's quite a few "small changes" I've made just because I felt it would match the character slightly better)

With Peasley, I just tried to make him look like his in-game self. (I had no previous experience with drawing him, but knew I'd have to eventually since people were just so insistent on him dating Ludwig. And that overtime became more cartoony. I personally think Motley's in-game design is... Uh... Not the best? The colors and all are great, just... As a whole, it looks weird to me. So I just made my own that only semi-matched with that one. Nabbit looks generic enough while also already looking fitting for my art style, so I didn't have to do much to convert it. And by now, I've gotten used to "my style," so it was easy to just go with the flow while making Plessie & Koops. Try to keep them relatively similar to their original designs while also adding in my own ☆flare☆ to them.

Yeahhh, that's enough explanation for one day. I'm tired-

Since Matt ends up getting better at some point do him and Tom still get chased out by society like in the original timeline? Is there any other considerable chances that you haven’t mentioned yet or have been on the fence about?

That part has been taken out with the reboot. Mostly because i wanted to just draw/design some more old people (and as we all know I can't bring myself to care about any ew character outside the main four for more than 5 minutes) and also i felt like it wasn't quite going anywhere beyond that.

Thematically it worked for what I was going for like "we accept and love each other even when society doesn't" but then also like. Man, what would they even DO when just living in the wild, y'know? It was good on its own but weak when put into a story context. Very "now what?"-core

Also i think i want them to be able to support Edd a bit more as he ages and really starts suffering from backlash of his radiation powers. Him ending up really lonely felt a bit like. Meanspirited in the long term.

A general thing abt my headcanons that i wanted to change was the way Tom barely passed as human before. Mostly cause everyone still being fooled was only funny for like an irl week. That's why I went for the vessel thing, him and Matt are still fucked up in similar ways (both are technically dead) but Tom DOES look human now. So it's a bit more plausible for me him to, y'know, live in a society.

One big change (the one that sparked this reboot) is that red leader isn't gonna be a downright fascist anymore because plenty of people told me that's inappropriate and i definitely get it now. It's eddsworld like, doing some emotional stuff is one thing but deep societal and political commentary? Yeah no that's way too ambitious (not to mention i executed it like shit) I'm just gonna make red be silly evil

If you remember that one post, i wanna take some inspo for red leader and his kids from King Koopa and his koopalings in the mario cartoons. Because of that I'm considering aging them up some, because you can't really do funny stuff when you're a year old. Well, at least not beyond crawling through a construction site and narrowly missing deadly debris :P

Hmmm that's about it rn i think. That's all the main changes floating around in my head rn. But if more comes up I'll share it here 👍

[Image ID: Shown is a very rough simple drawing of an anthro demon character with Super Mario rainbow power effect applied to them. There are various blocks of text visible. First is "what a guy that watched the owl house finale and the [new] super mario bros movie back to back looks like". Second is "its 1:30am as I make this". Third is "feeling very emotion at the same time, also rainbow power, prepare for incomprehensible rambling.". END ID]

Large rambling wall of text ahead, that also has 10 million typos and errors.

Title:  Dude

massive spoilers for The Owl House Finale and for the Super Mario Bros Movie!! [Also probably 1239348 typos]Super Mario Bros Movie rambling:As a guy that cares way more about Mario lore then any human being should, I have thoughts about what this movie did lore wise [some negative, some positive] [as in I care about what a Goombrat is, or that I like to pretend the koopalings are bowsers adopted kids].My first gaming experience ever was new super mario bros on a friends wii when I was 5, the first game I owned was also new super mario bros wii when I was 6. I still distinctly remember saving up to get both Super Mario Galaxy 1 and Super Mario Galaxy 2 when I was 6-7 [My favourite games of all time!]. Mario is just something that means just an unexplainable amount to me. [as well for other reasons that are a bit personal for a 2amish ramble]Good things I liked: [in no particular order]Things like giving mario and luigi a family [so they feel less like they just popped out of the ground, also again i care to much about lore and this gives alot of lore and fanart ideas], making peach not be the one that needs saving this time [and making her very capable with fighting!], just the fact their was a luma in this movie at all [I love lumas!], peach making a super mario galaxy reference in the fire flower meadow scene?, super mario galaxy music partially in the credits, bowser not knowing what the spinyes are called cause they are alot less well known than a koopa or a goomba, rainbow road appearance! [its my favourite mario kart track], just the design of the mushroom kingdom as a whole! its my favourite ver of it I have seen, king boo appearance at the wedding! [hes my mario kart main but they made him look very weird], bowsers really cool combination airship/castle!, just the wide range of mario enemies - hammer bros - slegdehammer bros - spiky shell koopas! - and so forth, the blue shell but it has wings like its older versions!, the Mario Kart 8 anti-gravity!, the bonzai bill!, mario and luigi using the rainbow power together to depend bowser!, cat mario!!!!, Pauline cameo!, I recognized so many objects and some areas/levels [sand kingdom, new super mario bros canon, the 1-1 scene reaction near the beginning and so on], toads personality, the music as a whole [it was mostly just mario music that existed already but arranged differently so I don't think they could of messed that up, I also loved take me on.]Bad things I didn't like: [in no particular order]There was alot less luigi than I expected, crisp rat as mario of course [as a queer mario fan], basically the fact that they combined an origin story with tiny bits of super mario odyssey. [I understand it slightly as odyssey is the most recent big mario game and I can't imagine them not making this movie a origin story but still it confuses me greatly, like the marriage plot, the sand kingdom, the lochlady dress but then the rest is its own thing.], some of the humour  aka the predictable illumination humour that felt very out of place in a mario related thing [like the aggressive dog or mario getting throw around, he feels alot more like a generic male movie protag than mario honestly, though glad they kept the persistence part of his character.], where was my son bowser junior??? or did I just miss him??, kooplaings??? [though I read somewhere that apparently the piano bowser plays has ludwigs name on it??], I never like it when evil characters are described as psycho, The penguins also mattered alot less than I thought, I both hate and love donkey kong's and marios dynamic it feels a bit generic but its also fun to have them as frenemies, I thought their would be more yoshi but still glad they made an appearance.  I don't want their to be sequel really but that post credit scene hits at something, idk what though,the pacing felt completely off - some things that I felt should of been shorter were longer and so on, maybe it's cause I haven't never experiences a mario story that's less than 2 hours. Their are some things [like the actor choices and the illumination humour/ slight genericness to the characters personalities] that were obviously for people that aren't really mario fans, but this movie really had alot of things that only like big mario fans would notice and appreciate and I was not expecting that at all. Also again wasn't expecting so much game mario music. Thought it would be the original 1-1 and that's it.The Owl House finale rambling:The Owl House is a more recent love of mine than Super Mario but it's still something that means alot to me, Of course part being with how queer it is and particularly the first big thing I have encountered with multiple nonbinary characters [Raine, Masha and The Collector!] gives me hope as a nonbinary person that yes stories with numerous trans/nonbinary characters [ that respects them] can reach television and if snubbed near the end can still reach a ending. [instead of just stop completely without an ending] As well as it's the first time I ever seen an nonbinary or bisexual flag in a mainstream cartoon on television. All these things are things I thought I would have to wait years for something like to be possible. I'm glad the owl house happened but I will miss it dearly. It is and was a big inspiration for me to create media and stories that are just queer as hell.Good things I liked: [in no particular order]This episode felt like it had better pacing and flow than previous and I wasn't left feeling like things were happening to quickly or slowly, the collector getting redeemed [win for the he/theys (lighthearted)], luz getting a cool powered form and finally killing belos with eda, king and raine! [another win for the enbys (lighthearted again)], seeing king's dad!, I am just so so so glad we were able to get a timeskip.[I love timeskips!!!!! I love seeing the characters happy after the story!], so many cools bits of animation in this ep - which makes sense as its the finale of the series as a whole, the bye with everyone at the end - legit started sopping my eyes out, just all the moments between luz, eda and king.Bad things I didn't like: [in no particular order]Only bad things I have to say is that the full force of angry towards Disney for cancelling this and forcing the team to cram the last bit of the story into three episodes is really starting to settle within me [I was feeling it before but now that it is setting in thats its over, oooo boy.] 2 rats causing issues, huh?

What headcanons do you have for what I consider the main Mario cast?

(Mario, Luigi, Peach, Daisy, Rosalina, Yoshi, Toad, Wario, Waluigi, Bowser, and Bowser Jr.)

(INHALES)

Mario

He overworks himself and only Luigi and/or Peach can stop him

He has a crush on Peach that's stupidly obvious to everyone

He, Luigi, Toad, Yellow Toad, and Blue Toad live together

He wants to be buddies with Bowser!

Professional Memer

That one father figure of the entire Kingdom

Anger Issues sometimes

SASSY AS HECK WHEN GIVEN THE CHANCE

Luigi

A lot more timid than Mario but also a lot more sarcastic thanks to Daisy

Daisy is actually the who has a crush on him that's extremely obvious but he keep ignoring it due to this thing called low self-esteem

Sibling Fights

Great Singer

The Koopalings actually kinda like him!

Unironically friends with Waluigi

Pays attention to every. Single. Miniscule. Detail.

Peach (Writer's least Favorite)

Wakes up at like, 3 AM in the morning to get all of the governing of the Kingdom stuff out of the way so she has time to spend with her friendos all day

She has a crush on Mario that's STUPIDLY obvious to everyone

Learning to protect herself

Literally the definition of a Mario Magnet

Chaotic as all heck, not afraid to show it

Like two other girls from a GOOD few Kingdoms and Towns over, she pulls of "Mario Heists" and just snatches Mario on occasion

Wants to make peace with Bowser but doesn't know how to do so...

DEEPLY REGRETS NOT ACCEPTING MARIO'S PROPOSAL ON THE MOON WHY DIDN'T SHE DO IT

Not just a master baker, but she can cook as a whole! She cooks breakfast for the whole castle.

Daisy

Follows Peach's example of waking up early to govern the Kingdom

Loud. Very loud. Learning to quiet down.

Sports Enthusiast

Has a crush on Luigi that is SO OBVIOUS BUT HE KEEPS DEFLECTING HER HINTS

Tries to get Rosalina to stop being so lazy

She doesn't prefer dresses, but she will wear them if she has to. She likes shorts more.

"Hey Bowser, remember that time where I wrecked you?"

"A complete doofus", she calls herself.

Finds herself Annoying, everyone tries to cheer her up.

Rosalina

SHE IS VERY VERY LAZY

Wants to sleep in but has all these children--

You're bound to see her in her pajamas when you casually see her on the Comet Observatory

All the Lumas can take care of themselves and all of the younger Lumas, but due to her Mom Instincts that keep on kicking in, she ends up taking care of the Lumas anyway

Likes drawing as a pastime!

Stupidly Protective of Mario and Peach for whatever reason

Really likes Daisy. A lot. A lot a lot.

"Mama why are you drawing that orange girl again with hearts around i--"

(Shuts the Sketchbook)

A Gamer

Yoshi

The same Dino who cared for Mario and Luigi as babies!

During those "Yoshi Sacrifices" in Super Mario World, he actually flings Mario up himself and just respawns in another egg.

One of the only Yoshi's who can speak English, as well as Yoshi!

Give him an apple and he'll love you forever. I'm being serious.

He likes relaxing a lot.

Also lives with Mario, Luigi, and the Toads, but has his own house in case he needs some peace and quiet.

Wants to be friends with Kamek. Desperately.

Has a Shy Guy friend named Shy. This Shy Guy is the same Guy who you're able to play as in the Spinoff Titles.

Toad

Loyal and Adorable!

Tries to keep his voice down as he knows how loud it can get

Also suffers from low self-esteem due to said voice

The same Toad from the Mario Spinoffs and Wario's Woods.

To differentiate himself from other Toads, he gave himself the name, Trevor.

Mario and Luigi are like brothers to him!

Yellow and Blue Toad are liked little brothers to him.

He likes Toadette, who reciprocates!

Can sprout magical mushroom spores from his head. Most Toads have this power.

Captain Toad is he.

Wario

Not as rude as you think he is

DESPISES NFTS, EVEN HE KNOWS HOW MUCH THEY SUCK

That one good friend who may be disgusting but is better than everyone thinks

He's like a Dad to the kids who are in Diamond City. Specifically Penny Crygor and 8-Volt.

Him and Waluigi are brothers!

Knows how to make Bob-Ombs.

Good Friends with King Bob-Omb!

Weirdly, nobody is in his interest at the moment. (He doesn't like anyone in this point in time)

Master Treasure Hunter. He ends up running into a certain red echinda on occasion...

Waluigi

A laughingstock of the Mushroom Kingdom

Unironically friends with Luigi

Everyone in the Mushroom Kingdom who's in Smash actually want him in.

Master Dancer.

Does a bit of gardening! Where do you think he gets all those roses?

A bit much on occasion. Poor taste of humor.

He's aware of all the memes people have made about him...

Bowser

Father first, kidnapper later.

The Koopalings were adopted. Treats them like his own.

Spoils every single one of his kids.

He doesn't pick favorites, Kids or Minions.

Good friends with a Goomba of all people. The same Goomba who's playable in all the spinoff titles.

Is aware of Mario wanting to be friends with him. Slowly warming up to the idea.

Wants to make peace with the Mushroom Kingdom but doesn't know how...

Kamek is his adoptive father and Second in Command.

That one Dad Friend who's done a lot but you hang out with him anyways

Likes Spicy Food a lot!

Actually has enough money to pay for his minions!

Fury Bowser is still kinda...inside him. Please don't make him overly furious.

Bowser Jr.

Showers his siblings with love and gifts

Good Pals with the Broodals

That Clown Car of his is SENTIENT and he loves it

He's in, like, the 5th Grade.

Likes playing Video Games! Especially Switch titles.

So you know that one Orange Inkling in Smash? Jr. may or may not have a bit of a crush on her...

Coincidentally, she goes to the school he goes to. She just lives a few Kingdoms and Towns over.

Extra Careful with his Paintbrush nowadays due to the...Fury Bowser, incident.

Cares a lot more about Mario after he helped his Dad.

MY WORK HERE IS DONE.

Reference List for amiibo Fighter Names (Set 1)

A supplementary post for the amiibo card art I recently posted over on Twitter, here’s a listing of all their names, and where they came from.  Order will be the same as the order they were posted in.  Going to stick to 12 entries per list because otherwise hoo boy this would get ridiculous for a single post. :

1) Bayonetta : Lunatic - This is a Touhou reference, Lunatic being the name of the (usually) highest difficulty setting.  Given luna is associated with the moon, as is Bayonetta herself, putting the bullet witch in a bullet hell game seemed fitting.  Given Bayonetta 1 even had a shooting minigame, Angel Attack, it seemed to work all the more perfectly.  Basically the full setup of this card is designed to look like a Touhou game being played, with Bayonetta appearing in full as a “spell card” image.

2) Bowser Jr. : Steam-Punk - When it comes to more recent Mario games, when Jr. decides to confront you, more often than not it’s with various machines and mechs.  Thus, I thought of him with an inventor style, and went with one of my favorite aesthetics, steampunk.  The fact that he is kind of a punk little brat works quite well.  Some of the overall look of this card was inspired by the fact that I was playing the Bioshock games while drawing this, which Neo made a more solid reference to it on his version, putting in an Andrew Ryan quote.  I also snuck a reference to Tinker Knight’s mech from Shovel Knight in the background.

3) Bowser : King Dad - Nintendo has gone out of their way to portray as Bowser, for all his faults, as being a good dad for his son, and I love that interpretation.  Furthering this, there’s the fact that the Koopalings in the old Mario cartoons from the 80′s - 90′s tended to refer to him as King Dad, hence the name.  I wanted to go with sort of an old era sitcom look for him, the family dad sitting with his pipe and newspaper.  I thus also wanted to give the frame an old timey TV look.  This one was drawn by me in the period before Neo suggested we try using character specific icons in all the nameplates, so he added a Bowser insignia to the channel knob.

4) Captain Falcon : DJFalcon - This is a play on Captain Falcon’s canonical name (at least, the name for one version of him, since I guess according to lore Captain Falcon is less a single person and more a title...?  F-Zero canon is tricky to follow sometimes.  Doesn’t help that the Cap has been cloned a number of times).  Falcon’s full name is Douglas Jay Falcon, thus shortening it, DJ Falcon.  He wants to see your moves!  Your DANCE moves!  Not much else to say on this one, except a bit of behind the scenes info : I was most of the way through drawing this one when we had a power out.  GUESS WHO HADN’T SAVED THE FILE FOR A LONG TIME!

5) Charizard : NotADragon - The eternal Pokémon joke of Charizard, one of the most dragonny looking Pokémon, not ACTUALLY being a Dragon type (unless you count his Mega Evolution I guess, but still, the point stands).  Neo made the point even more, including Goomy in the image, a major case of “How is THIS a dragon, but THIS ISN’T?!”  Not too much else to say on this one, though Neo did throw in a Pokémon Snap reference on his version, having the Dugtrio mountain in the background.  Nice touch, that.

6) Cloud : Smash Star - This was a suggestion from Neo actually, we joked about how FF was such a “Sony” franchise that it seemed funny Cloud got invited to Smash, rather than Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale.  So we went with that idea, using stage elements from the last stage of the game, and using three of my favorite characters from it in the background : Sackboy, Sly Cooper, and PaRappa the Rapper.  Would have also included Ratchet & Clank, but didn’t want to overcrowd the background.

7) Dark Pit : FaceMyself - This one’s a Persona 4 reference.  As the game often states, “I am a Shadow, the true self!”  With Dark Pit basically being Pit’s “Shadow” from within the mirror, I couldn’t help going with this reference.  I greatly enjoyed Persona 4, so had a fun time drawing this one.  The back of his card is meant to be the back of one of those Kid Icarus Uprising AR cards.  Neo also added some Persona 4 imagery to the stack of TVs.  The roman numeral on the card in his nameplate, XXXIX, is 39, the release number of his amiibo.

8) Diddy Kong : Nerfed Gun - A bit of a meta joke, this one.  Diddy was seen as one of the most broken characters in Brawl, but in Smash 4, he got nerfed pretty hard.  So the idea of Diddy looking nervous, his weapons having been replaced with harmless Nerf equivalents, amused me way too much.  This one might be a little outdated though, as I’m fairly sure he got buffed a bit in Ultimate.

9) Donkey Kong : Sunwu Kong - A reference to the character from Journey to the West.  Sun Wukong, the monkey king, has been reference in a lot of media.  Heck, even Buster Rod G from Mega Man : The Wily Wars is based on him.  The specific version I reference with DK’s outfit here was Sun Wukong’s appearance in the Warriors Orochi series.  DK faces are really fun to draw.

10) Dr. Mario : The Doctor - A reference to Doctor Who, a show I... really need to watch more of.  The idea of it fascinates me.  I styled the viruses after various baddies from the show, the red virus being a Dalek, the yellow, a Weeping Angel, and the blue, the Half Face Man.  Mario himself is wearing the long scarf worn by the Fourth Doctor, played by Tom Baker.  I just always really liked how that scarf looked.

11) Duck Hunt : Quackshot - Pure and simple, just a pun name on the term “Crackshot.”  Only a duck is involved.  So Quackshot.  I want to say there was a Donald Duck game that also had this as the title, but that’s purely coincidental, wasn’t specifically referencing it.  I put some Target Test targets in the back to go with the theme.  Man, I do miss Target Test mode, especially the Melee variation, but these days, I can see the issue with having a personalized Target Test for every character.  I’d still love it though, haha.

12) Falco : Hyperdrive - I had trouble coming up with an idea for Falco, so I got to thinking about space travel type stuff since he loves flight.  Then I ended up with the idea that he’s a falcon (at least his name would lead you to believe so), and Star Wars had the Millennium Falcon, so the idea just sort of took off from there.  I tried to go with the style of how the stars sort of look like they “stretch” in preparation for the jump to Hyperspace.

time for episode 5 because i’m bored as heck

• just thoughts during the theme song but i wish we got to see more of aleena • the extras in this opening scene look passable for mobians which is a surprise • sleet explains something to dingo while looking directly into the camera

• WHAT IS THIS CATERPILLAR DOG THING UGH • it’s a legal requirement for thief children to have wack hair • kjsdgsd max snapped • i think i remember some people shipping manic with this kid • what animal are any of these characters supposed to be • that bungee jump thing makes no sense at all which is terrible • who gave sonic a drivers liscence • sonic your whole thing is to help people and then some poor kid comes in your van like “help me” and you’re like “why should i” what is the truth • shit dude that van turns on a dime • nobody in this show knows how to drive do they • this little goblin dude juggling is kinda cute, his design ain’t bad. weird colors but that’s a given • what sleet turns dingo into reminds me of the koopalings right down to the voice • is manic older than max or does he just say “little bro” because max looks even shorter than manic does • manic: stealing’s wrong   max:

• max brings up a good point about like... how are they gonna survive without money from the shit they stole • i think i redesigned max at one point? i think i made him a xoloitzcuintli (those weird mexican hairless dogs)

• OH I DID, this was back when i mainly did lineless art (it was easier doing art like this rather than lined art with a mouse, i haven’t tried this style with my drawing tablet yet), i really like what i did here skjdgs small boy • there’s two background characters with names, there’s a girl named allegra with a huge nose and some pig looking gremlin critter named clifton, i think that’s interesting • is it like a cultural thing for all the thieves to have earrings or did the character designers just go “yeah only punks have piercings” • sonia’s being really mean about their music for no reason when it doesn’t sound awful, just let these kids play their accordions and violins in peace dude • manic is a gross boy and spits all over this girl to show off one of his little tricks, disgusting • the headcanons about dingo involved something about this episode i think, i’d have to go digging through dms to remember tho • there’s this bird character between allegra and clifton who looks depressed as shit • sleet looks ugly enough to be a passable spore creature and i might just try that if i have to look at his nasty face any longer • i understand what manic means when he’s like “haha this whole thing reminds me of when i was little and stole shit all the time” because i was a little kleptomaniac when i was a kid and like... getting away with it is fun as shit. of course i feel bad now but like... hey i get it • for once the siblings yelling out of surprise has some energy to it, though i wish it was less like “oh aah” and more like... y’know, actual startled sounds, it’s not super convincing • sleet is standing there with his gaping maw wide open pointing in one direction with no animation like a statue and it’s weird • swatbots are on the same level of aiming as storm troopers • what even are these lasers? are they lethal?? do they hurt??? i don’t think anyone’s gotten hit from what i remember so like what’s the danger • sonic just fucking... vaccums up all these children with wind from running, he’s gonna hurt someone, he’s so damn reckless • WHERE’D THEY GO • the little animation where manic takes out his drums doesn’t look half bad! it’s a pleasant surprise when bits of animation are higher quality than normal

• after saying that i realized his gloves disappeared in the shot i was just praising sndkgjds • how was the production of this show? did they color digitally or was this still in the time of hand-drawn animation cells? i wonder how rushed production was • is “amigas” proper spanish?   [googling]   yes it is nevermind   spanish class as a required class was pointless apparently because i don’t remember jack shit from it • dingo you aren’t allowed to steal the “main man” title from manic (my nickname in our discord server was “my main man, manic” for the longest time sjkdgbs)

• it’s kinda neat seeing where all these pics my boyfriend gave me when i was looking for refs came from • i’ve thought that a song was gonna play tiwce now so now i’m wondering when it’ll come in and if it’ll be plot relevant • bummer majores • i get the point of “aw man i can’t believe you have to give all this money to robotnik because he’s evil and demands taxes” but hey either tax the rich or eat them dude • this old man’s outfit is horrendous • sonic and sonia just hid behind behind a thing hanging on the wall and that just wouldn’t work • manic and max both like drums... ;v; • why are manic and dingo just throwing glass bottles and shit back and forth at each other, is this a game • DINGO YOU HURT THE BOY • god what are these masks • SONG TIME • again, manic’s just talking in the middle of the song, and i get it’s for plot but the visuals are, again, sickeningly distracting, i can’t tell what’s happening • how does nobody notice the drummers changing place in the middle of the performance? how is there not a gap in the drum/cymbal beats? • these poor children, wow dingo • it’s really sweet that this old man helped the thief kids find parents and homes to go back to, that’s very nice • manic has one (1) coin and everyone takes that as evidence that he robbed the old man of all his money when that also doesn’t make sense, yes he took it from the vault thing but he didn’t take the whole thing? • why does manic just let the robot handcuff him, i know he feels guilty but like he isn’t an idiot, he knows what’ll happen if he does that so why does he??? • why do sonic and sonia immediately believe what sleet says about manic, shouldn’t they be on guard whenever this fuck’s around and have some suspension of belief here • this man went from 0 to 100 real quick huh • SONG TIME??? • i forgot that the song already happened because of my confusion during the sequence and now i feel like an idiot • anyway the song was like a 5.5/10, it has the energy i think they were going for and it doesn’t sound awful, it’s a little better than alright, though i wish the scene was more coherent and easy to follow • sonia’s classist as hell damn • sonic’s faith in manic being honest is nice to see • the thief children didn’t get their homes after this?? i’m upset • two bros laughing manically in the sewer in front of a very small crowd of children, as you do • manic talking to himself in jail kinda reminds me of movie!sonic but like... slower and less interesting, also why do they just throw him in jail? doesn’t robotnik roboticize everyone? • that one kid dares to look in max’s direction and he’s like ShShHhH like your hushing is gonna get you caught dude not that kid • MAX IS THROWING METAL THINGS IN THE BACKGROUND WHY??? YOU WERE SHUSHING THAT KID FOR SAYING NOTHING • max should be like... directly in sleet’s line of sight rn • of course they gotta very clearly explain the plot directly to the audience • everyone’s so shitty to these poor kids, damn • you’d think that huge laser blast would have injured manic in the process of blowing a hole in the wall • why’s sonia so concerned about the police chasing them? aren’t the police chasing them all the time? • manic nyooms again when he gets out of the van • these robots aren’t observant at all are they • for once, reusing animation makes sense • yay the poor kids get homes now • as nice as this ending is, it isn’t easy to kick bad habits like thievery, especially when it’s like... part of your nature at that point? it’s odd

• god the perspective • also, this is exactly why i give everyone on this blog extended muzzles and more clear divides between their eyes when they’re looking to the side, otherwise they look cursed • IT’S TIME TO JUICE AND JAM

In the 'recent' mario RPGs (Color Splash and the remakes of Superstar Saga and Bowser's Inside Story) they decided to 'dumb down' Morton's dialogue, MAKING HIM TALK IN ALL CAPITALS AND REFER TO HIMSELF IN THIRD PERSON. What did you think about the change? Of course it is too late to incorporate it into your fic, but do you think Morton could have sat down and studied up on language a bit since those titles?

Short answer: sure, if it helps, Morton was told by his parents to do better and they forced him to go into more schooling, so he built brains.

Long answer, because I’m very opinionated about this topic, is below. 

...

See, that has been grating on me for the longest: Morton’s inconsistent character development.

In his introduction back in Super Mario Bros. 3, the manual’s flavor text treated Morton as cautious and perceptive, assessing Mario’s skill and making sure that it was reported. He was strong, but careful.

Next was his appearance in the cartoon, where he was a blabbermouth, so that scrambled around what he might function well as.

This all changed on Morton’s return with the New Super Mario Bros. series, where he’s most definitely bulked up. He’s not just big, he’s definitely powerful with his more recent appearances. Nothing otherwise was suggested at the time.

His appearance in Paper Jam defined the interpretation that I have a stronger preference for: mostly strong, but enough wits about him to handle his opponents, and above all else, caring towards his family. He battles alongside Lemmy and Iggy, and gets furious when the Mario team defeats them. At the time, this interpretation best balanced Morton’s previous established traits and made him what I thought was a fully developed character in his own right, perhaps the most natural progression for his development.

Annnnnnd then Color Splash happened. I guess the writing team was so focused on other aspects that they just considered Morton would be best described as “dumb muscle.” I suppose that’s a viable approach, but given how he had been developed in the last game, and his various personalities previously, they could have picked anything more exciting. But no, he was made into mostly a witless fool.

Now, it could have been considered that Paper Morton was different from regular Morton, in which case this would have been fine. I guess someone on the writing team thought that Color Splash’s interpretations were the correct to follow, however, and no one else questioned that, so his return appearances in the Mario & Luigi remakes had him follow his, uh, Paper personality to a tee.

More personal stuff is below, but you can kind of see my point. 

...

With my personal tastes, I can’t deny that I dislike characters being rigid in their development, and I do my best to make sure characters aren’t thrown in a rut with how they’re written. I don’t like them being shallow, especially if I intend on using them repeatedly. Even my lesser characters, I do my best to make sure they have SOME kind of development.

Most especially, I get rather annoyed at worn archetypal character tropes. For too long, I’ve always thought of muscular characters as unintelligent. And that’s predominantly because of how the media portrays them, more often than not. Even when I write characters, it’s rare that a powerhouse character is the smartest in the room. To play advocate, it is fair, since it allows characters with more intelligence focuses to shine, and balances character rosters.

Morton never needed that, however. Roy was also previously considered a strong character, even being known as the “bully” of the Koopaling bunch. There was no need for the dynamic to be thrust upon Morton. The way that Roy developed in later games does keep him as a strong Koopaling, but balances it with a certain “cooler” edge, which I also like for Roy. He’s mostly brawn, but can be surprising with a few lines. That’s a developed character.

The thing about that, though, is that Roy is fairly popular and can hold his own better among the Koopalings. Ludwig and Wendy tend to stand out the best, but Roy’s usually on their heels. Iggy, Lemmy, and Larry can duke it out below them, and who usually ends up on top between those three mostly varies by which fan you approach. Morton, on my assumed average, doesn’t really do well with popularity compared to his counterparts.

This is possibly because Morton has never really had a solid character interpretation prior to what Color Splash decided to establish for him, so people were never positive how to handle him. Now he will have a consistent personality, but it’s not exactly something that will really draw fans in, or at least, I don’t believe it should. If it does, well...simple approaches do work nicely at times, I suppose.

Personally, I’m elated that I had written my fanfic prior to Color Splash and Morton’s massive downgrade. Even I didn’t know how to approach him immediately, and I left him quieter early on, falling back more on his muscle more than his other traits.

But I refused to let that entirely define his character, and I think Paper Jam was really what pushed me into finalizing how I wanted Morton: mostly uses his strength, but arguably has the biggest heart among his siblings, and is entirely devoted to them above all else. THAT is a strong character, and that was his sharpest that he’s ever been. I have zero regrets following that, even as the future installments will continue to absolutely tarnish him repeatedly.

it’s mostly a non-issue to Mario fans on average, because most of them could care absolutely less about Morton as a whole, much less as anything memorable between the Koopalings. I think that’s precisely why I get so defensive of him, though, because he’s not even my favorite Koopaling, but I feel bad that no one really likes him much, and he deserves to be at least balanced out a lot better with his siblings than he ever is.

On average, I worry about him and Larry more than the others, but because Larry is usually the first fought Koopaling, fans remember and attend him better than Morton. So, that’s where I’ve started paying more attention.

Anyway, thank you for the ask! I’ve actually being holding this in for a while and wanted a good place to write such feelings on the least popular Koopaling. I do hope that he either gets another rewrite, or at least manages to gain more fans regardless of how he’s written.

An anon's complete list of headcanons on the WoL intro

So, yeah. This is what I headcanon happened to every fighter during the World of Light intro. But just for fun, I’m not using names, only numbers. So without further ado…

• Mario and Peach disregarded all logic and ran for each other, knowing they were doomed and wanting to be together. The sick part was, the light didn’t touch them until their outstretched fingers were mere inches away from each other. • Donkey Kong knew only one thing in his final moments: he wanted Diddy Kong to live. But all he could do was launch him into the air, hoping his rocket barrel would carry him the rest of the way (spoiler alert: it didn’t). • (Young) Link, Sheik, and Ganondorf were cursed with the knowledge that they would die here. They knew they had to go down fighting, and that’s exactly what they did. • Samus kept fighting even after she saw Link die, knowing she could do nothing else. • Dark Samus quickly realized there was no point in getting others to fight for her, and she tried to flee, just like so many others. • Yoshi ran. He ran as fast as he could, hoping to carry Jigglypuff, Olimar, and Alph on his back to safety. It just didn’t work. • Fox had an agreement with Falco. If things went wrong, Falco was gonna get out of there as fast as possible and call for help while Fox faced his fate. He knew what was coming for him. • Sonic tried to save Pikachu. We all cried. It was very emotional at the time. • Since Luigi and Daisy were standing at the back of the group, they had an agreement with Bowser that they would get Bowser Jr. and the Koopalings to safety if anything went wrong. When things did go wrong, they lost track of one, but in the end, they shielded the other seven from the horror that awaited them. • Ness and Lucas ran for their lives together. In the end, Ness tripped, and Lucas shielded him in vain. • Captain Falcon didn’t even get a chance to run. • Bowser fought back, knowing he had people at home and with him depending on him. His last thought was of his children, but he didn’t see Bowser Jr. running up behind him just to be with him. • The Ice Climbers held each other in fear, drawing comfort from the one person who understood most. • Zelda and Mewtwo were hopeful, which is the only reason why they shielded themselves at all, but they were also smart enough to know that, without a miracle, they were all done for. • Dr. Mario went looking for his sons, but he couldn’t find them. He died after they did. • Snake’s attempt at hiding seemed hilarious at the time, until he sadly admitted he had been hiding Pichu and Isabelle. • With tears in his eyes, Marth tried to fight back. He died a broken man, having helped lead this massive army and knowing he had failed them. • For once, Lucina didn’t have to protect anyone. Instead, she was held and protected by the people who loved her the most. • Young Link rewound time over and over and over again, until he realized there was just no fighting this. In the end, he let the light take him. • Roy hid with Toon Link. The light had stolen the courage from the Young Lion and the Wind Waker. • Chrom knew only one thing: he had to protect his baby girl. He died holding her, trying not to cry, his two best friends at his back guarding them. • Mr. Game & Watch didn’t understand completely, but knew beyond a doubt that this light thing was not good. He hid too. But since he was made of shadow, the light actually hurt him when it touched him. • Meta Knight and King Dedede could only watch a miracle in the distance. They knew beyond a doubt that they were not getting out of here, but they could see that star and know it meant hope. • Pit and Dark Pit thought they were safe until their wings stopped working. They knew what happened in that exact moment: Pit’s patron goddess was dead, and they were next. • Wario didn’t even get a chance to pull out his bike before he was taken. Good thing too, he would’ve trampled over so many if he had. • Ike did what he did best: he fought for his friends. • Charizard, Ivysaur, and Squirtle stood defiant, even as their trainers urged them to leave. They refused to leave them even in this desperate hour. • Lucario, Greninja, and Bayonetta felt foolish later, as they all dodged one beam only to get hit by another. However, Bayonetta found the courage to laugh about this once it was over. • R.O.B. only stood and cried (or as close as a robot can get to doing so), hoping to be reunited with his family. • Wolf wanted to run, but he absolutely refused to go down without a proper fight. Plus, if Fox was staying, so was he. • Villager panicked and couldn’t even hide in time. • Mega Man fought back and just hoped the light wouldn’t get his dad, sister, and brother back home. His hopes were dashed later. • Knowing what was coming, the Wii Fit Trainers just tried to calm themselves down. • Rosalina wanted to stay with her friends, but she was a mother. She couldn’t abandon her children like this, and if she asked Mario and Peach, they’d have agreed with her. It was the only comfort she had when she died. • Little Mac didn’t even know what to do, so he ran. • Mii Brawler died alone and he died later than the rest of them. He saw his friends, the Mii Swordfighter and Mii Gunner, too late and he couldn’t even go to them. • As for Mii Swordfighter, he shielded the Mii Gunner though he knew it was futile. They both hoped the Mii Brawler didn’t see them. • Palutena was one of three people who secured their hope for rescue, and unlike Falco’s failed attempt to call for help, she succeeded. She called to other dimensions, other deities, hoping something would work as she tried to get Pit and Dark Pit to safety. • Pac-Man didn’t know what to do, he’d never been through anything like this before! • The Robins went down with a unified blast of thunder. They had their best friends behind them to protect, and that’s what they were going to do.  • Shulk refused to be totally helpless in his final moments. He made sure their last hope, their miracle, got out safely.  • The Duck Hunt Duo went down as a pair, one wanting to hide but refusing to leave his best friend alone.  • Ryu channeled his honor and tried to fight.  • Ken decided to screw honor and retreated, but that’s only because he wanted to see his wife and son one last time. He didn’t get the chance to.  • Cloud charged at Galeem. …He doesn’t know what he was thinking either.  • The Corrins went down together, fighting and protecting the one other person who truly understood their struggles and pain.  • The Inklings tried to hide in their own ink…they weren’t ready. They didn’t know what to expect when they accepted that invitation, but it so was not this.  • Ridley only thought of himself. He wanted to run, and damn it, that’s what he did.  • Simon gave a final word of encouragement to Richter. They refused to meet their maker scared.  • King K. Rool fought back, defending Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong, his former enemies turned friends.  • Incineroar hadn’t been this scared since he was a Litten. But he put up a brave front and went down fighting, with a massive grin on his face.  • Piranha Plant, Joker, the Heroes, and Banjo & Kazooie were actually saved by Palutena before they could officially be brought into the fight. She contacted their deities and told them to hide their chosen champions in the space between dimensions, where they’d be safe, and to only bring them out when the time was right. They were forever indebted to her, but they couldn’t save their friends. Later, when everything was over, they all decided to stay in the world of Smash.  • As for Kirby…well, they all had to be saved somehow, right?

(submitted by anonymous)

I changed the #s to the character names just to make things easier on others.

Also I’m going to add to some of these because I can and I want to.

When Fox told Falco the plan, there was a lot of initial refusal on Falco’s part, which only stopped when Fox yelled at Falco five minutes away from the expected arrival of Galeem, at which Falco had no more time to be oppositional. Fox was making sure Falco got in the Arwing and fled, even if it meant he had to drag him kicking and screaming into the Arwing and lock him inside.

Captain Falcon had no plans to run. His initial plan was to try to attack from inside the Blue Falcon because if he was fast enough, he didn’t think Galeem could catch him. That all changed when he saw just how quickly people were being lost.

Dr. Mario realized what had happened to his kids in the split instant before Galeem’s beam hit him.

The moment when Young Link realized there was no stopping Galeem was when he found one (1) possible solution to stop Galeem before he attacked and save everyone, only to have Dharkon arrive and wipe everyone out instead. He played the Song of Time one last time to go back to Dawn of the First Day, and just stood where he was.

When Mr. Game & Watch was first freed, he started asking a bunch of questions which, if Pac-Man was around to translate at the time, would have been translated to, “Is that this realm’s version of Dharkon? Am I gonna have to leave this realm too? Where am I gonna go? …Wait, are we planning on fighting this guy?! Will we have to fight Dharkon too?!”

R.O.B. was hoping and praying that he would end up in the Subspace where his people were trapped, because he knew that there was no afterlife for robots (the closest thing is the internet or cloud storage, which he had no access to at that moment).

Pac-Man was off somewhere else when Galeem arrived. He had no knowledge of the invasion until he saw a light beam flying at him for half a second.

K. Rool helped give Donkey Kong an extra height boost to try and get Diddy Kong away (to no avail). Afterwards, Donkey Kong and K. Rool stood behind hoping to try and combat Galeem.

I have my own developed headcanons regarding the DLC fighters but I also like that idea too.

Since I am not over the fact that for Bowser Jr. and Koopalings in the Mario amd Luigi games, let's talk about that. I think right after the whole incident in BJJ, I wonder if Ludwig or Wendy would actually be more considerate for Junior's well being after the whole ordeal. Ludwig has the Panic Big Bro if Junior does obscenely stupid stuff w/ his hair going Kooky levels of panic or Wendy has the tough yet caring and has the bitch slap defensive tic if she sees somebody hurting Junior.

Oh, absolutely.

All of the Koopalings have very distinctive, unique personalities and it definitely shows when it comes to their relationship with Jr.. That’s something I loved about BJJ–They really showed how they are all different and handle this snot-nosed brat. I like to think the Koopalings would follow specific traits as siblings for Jr.. So….ah, let’s look at ‘em all roughly!

LUDWIG: Over protective type. Will do all he can to keep Jr. out of trouble. I HC that he is the most mature of the group and does all he can to stop Jr. doing something ludicrous. (Another I.e. Jr. grabbing a bowl of raw cookie dough and eating it as it is and Ludwig literally running across the room and practically slapping the bowl from his hands “NO LORD JUNIOR THAT ISN’T GOOD FOR YOU PLEASE STOP!”)

WENDY: Another over protective type but shows it a bit more…bluntly? She cares very deeply for her siblings. (Even Roy!) She can be bossy and maybe a bit insulting but it’s all meant well. If someone was to even think of being mean to Jr. she would be over jumping over the castle walls and readying her hand for an almighty slappin’. Never insult her family. Even Jr.. I also HC that she and Roy are twins hence the hint of rivalry.

LARRY: Larry and Jr. are cuties....Drawing buddies that like to play video games and share creative ideas. I like to think that they would team up at some point and create a comic about them being heroes of the Mushroom Kingdom...As kids do. The least likely to start a fight with Jr.. 

LEMMY: Probably second to Larry in least likely to start a fight. Jr. use to tease Lemmy about how small he is (Smaller than him!) but after BJJ, they get on much better and Jr. doesn’t make those jokes anymore. I like to think Lemmy would teach Jr. about how to ball balence when he’s up for it. (Not that he’s very good lmao)

IGGY: Like Lemmy and Larry, he doesn’t want to start any fights. He does enjoy a good joke or two with Jr.. Maybe a prank here and there but usually, they work together to prank the other koops as opposed to pranking each other. 

ROY: OOOOOFFFFF.....Well, the most likely to fight, thats for sure. Y’know those tropes of the little sibling being so annoying and being just a HUGE brat to the older sibling (Like Daniel in LIS2 or DW from the show “Arthur”)? Well that’s Jr. to Roy. Roy has been known to be physical in showing his annoyance but it’s mostly typical sibling things. (rubbing fist into Jr.’s head, dragging him across room to get him off his bed/sofa, willing to carry him upside down etc...) VERY rare Roy shows affection towards anyone but....ok consider...consider if Roy was trying to cheer up an upset Jr. and he ends up falling asleep so Roy is like “shitshitshit I can’t move or he’ll wake up and cry again okok lemmie think” but ends up sleeping too...They just nap together on the sofa and it’s like--the longest they’ve gone without fighting...Bless...

MORTON: Last but definitely not least! Morton is a bit difficult because his difference in character between BJJ and Paper Jam....But which ever way he is...I think of him as a big ol’ teddy bear. He will protect Jr. all he can. Despite being a big ol’ meat head, he very rarely fights with any of his siblings and Jr. unless it’s to be defensive. 

Fictober19 #2 Babysitting the Koopalings

A/N: What you need to know for this chapter is that R.O.B. married Marth’s iPhone because Roy set them up one year ago.

Prompt number:  2  “Just follow me, I know the area.”

Fandom (AU if applicable): Super Smash Bros

Rating: T because of the implications at the end.

Warnings/Tags: R.O.B. overheating

Words: I forgot to count

Ships: R.O.B. x Marth’s iPhone, Palu and Bayo are Kirby and Joker’s moms

R.O.B.’s life had been going through many changes lately. It had gotten married to its beautiful wife, Marth’s iPhone. They had been living a happily wed life but something was missing. The one thing that most married couples strive for, kids.

The robot did not want to disappoint its wife when it came to child-raising. It wanted to be prepared for the most troublesome kids imaginable. But it didn’t have much money.

The robot was a decent fighter but there were many fighters that were way more talented than it. R.O.B. didn’t have the money to pay for anything a child needed. Heck, it didn’t have the money to adopt one.

It would take so much time to raise enough money with the results it was having in tournaments. The poor robot had no way to become a top tier fighter in the blink of an eye. Even if by some miracle it did become top tier, it would still lack any knowledge of child-raising.

R.O.B. decided it needed advice. It could not give up, it needed to make its wife happy. The robot went around the Smash Mansion asking fighters for advice. After consulting all the parents in Smash, it came to the conclusion that a part-time job as a babysitter would help it gain money and learn how to raise a child.

---

If R.O.B. had been programmed to feel excitement, it would be feeling it right now. It was time for its first job as a babysitter.

The robot knocked on the door eager for it to be opened. It could hear footsteps of someone running and the door was quickly opened. The robot was met with a huge smile for one second before it turned into a frown.

“Dad, R.O.B. knocked,” Roy Koopa stomped his way back to the sofa.

“Oh, just in time!” Bowser smiled as he let the robot into the Koopalings’ apartment, “The children are all waiting.”

The robot followed Bowser into the living room. The apartment was quite spacious and nicely decorated. There were photos of all the Koopalings on the wall alongside badly illustrated drawings. R.O.B. couldn’t help but imagined what its living room would look when it had kids.

“Kids, R.O.B. is here,” Bowser announced to his children, “He’ll be babysitting you.”

“But he’s a robot,” Wendy protested, “How can he play fashionista with me?”

“Aw, Roy had me all hyped up for nothing,” Bowser Jr. pouted, “He made us all think big Roy would babysit us.”

“Wait, Roy’s not babysitting?” Roy yelled in shock as he made his way towards the door, “That’s it, I’m leaving!”

“I’m sure you’ll all have lots of fun,” Bowser reassured his kids, “If any of you leave or misbehave, you’ll all be punished. Have fun!”

Once Boswer left, R.O.B. knew it had a lot of pressure on it. The most likely scenario would be for the koopalings to misbehave. R.O.B. could sense that they didn’t like it, it needed to gain their trust and respect if it wanted to avoid having problems with Bowser later on.

---

“No!” Wendy yelled, “You can’t walk like that Iggy! You’re ruining my fashion show!”

“That’s not true!”

R.O.B. had no idea what to do. How did you stop two kids from fighting? It’s actually quite easy.

“So, we’ll be allowed to play on iPads all night?” Iggy asked.

R.O.B. nodded which made the two koopalings grin. They had always wanted to stay awake all night and now they could. Babysitters were awesome.

---

Lemmy, Larry and Morton wanted to do nothing but eat chips. Naturally, R.O.B., being a robot, had absolutely no knowledge of the fact that chips weren’t exactly healthy. He took all the koopalings to town to buy them whatever they wanted.

R.O.B. had spent way too much money on the eight mischievous kids. He needed to make sure Bowser paid him a lot.

“We need more chips!” Larry told the robot, “It’s unhealthy for kids to not eat chips.”

“Yeah!” Lemmy smiled, “We read it on a YouTube comment so it must be true.”

“These with lots of sugar and fat will do!” Morton grinned, “They’re the healthiest!”

Kirby and Joker just happened to be walking by with Palutena and got really excited.

“Mom?” Joker asked as he made puppy eyes, “Can we have some chips?”

“No. We have chips at home.”

“They’re apple chips!”

“Healthy and delicious.”

“Fuck you!” Kirby pouted, “Bayo’s a better mother than you. At least, she’s willing to try to get me whatever I want.”

"Actually, I know a place with the most healthy chips in the world," Joker lied.

"You do?" Palutena asked full of interest.

"Yeah! Just follow me, I know the area."

---

R.O.B. took the koopalings back to the mansion where most of them were satisfied with eating chips and playing on their iPads all day. However, Roy, Ludvig and Bowser Jr. had other plans.

“Playing on iPads is so boring,” Ludvig snickered, “Let’s sneak out!”

The three brothers quietly exited their apartment and ran all around the mansion causing chaos. They were running into people and pranking everyone. They were about to prank the inklings when Roy saw his idol, lord and savior, big Roy speaking to some loser called Ike.

The pink koopa ran towards him but by the time he reached them, big Roy had left after yelling and throwing a box on Ike. Little Roy picked it up and looked at it.

He saw a small letter written on it. He couldn’t read most of it because Ike’s handwriting was crap but he could make out a bit.

“To our boy, Roy,” Roy read out loud, “Something, something. I hope you like this gift, you’ve earned it! Remember to be careful.”

“Roy, why did you run off?” Ludvig asked, “What’s that?”

“I think it’s a present for me from Ike. Roy must have gotten angry at Ike for giving it to him instead of me!”

Roy opened the box and found things in it. He didn’t know what those things were. Neither did Ludvig but they both had an amazing idea. Bowser Jr. wasn’t sure why his brothers were looking at him with such intensity. It was like they were trying to prank him.

---

“R.O.B.!” Bowser Jr. yelled, “I need your help!”

R.O.B. rushed to the koopaling not knowing what to expect. The robot was surprised to see him stuck in what appeared to be a weird type of balloon. R.O.B. started overheating as it couldn’t handle another situation of not knowing what to do.

“Hi, I’m back!” Bowser greeted full of joy before seeing the scene unfolding in front of him, “Why’s my son stuck in a… Um… Balloon?”

“It was Ike!” Roy spoke up as he showed the box and letter he had taken earlier, “He got this gift for me.”

“Um… Yeah… I think I’m going to leave for the night. I’ll pay you extra, R.O.B.”

R.O.B. was so overjoyed that it had done a seemingly good job that it started overheating once again. It was going to be a great parent. Now it just needed Marth’s iPhone’s parents’ blessings.

Been meaning to draw these two side-by-side ever since I redrew that pic of Kooky a while ago :3

Some differences are obvious: body types, hair care (or lack thereof), scale/shell color, you get the idea. But I crave lists, and so lists I shall make, even if some of it is stuff you may know already >:3c

Ludwig

Prioritizes magic studies above everything else, and is the best user of the craft amongst the Koopalings as a result. Despite this, he can't use magic without a catalyst like his wand.

Very neurotic due to bad parenting, anything viewed as a social "mistake" will cause him to worry over it for days on end, his panic becoming more exaggerated the "worse" the event was.

Calls Bowser "Lord Bowser" instead of "King Dad" because of his aforementioned neuroticism. Same goes for the Koopalings minus Lemmy; he never addresses them as family to their faces, but refers to them as such when they're not in earshot.

Hatched with a bent tail. This is very common and can be corrected, but Ludwig actively chose not to.

Can set his hair on fire when enraged. No one knows why he can do this, not even him.

Kooky

Prefers to mess with technology over magic. He's competent in the craft, but not the best amongst his siblings. (The best turned out to be Cheatsy.)

Has no social skills or sense of personal space. He can and will get up in your face, grinning and giggling all the while. In fact, he's almost always smiling. To his family, it's much scarier when he isn't.

Calls his father "King Dad" because he biologically is King Koopa's son. His mother is one of several women that agreed to provide King Koopa with heirs to the throne, promptly leaving once the eggs were laid. Funnily enough, all the Koopa Kids took after their mothers in appearance. Kooky has no idea who his mother is and doesn't care.

It's unknown if his tail is broken or he simply hatched with a bent one like Lud did. If it is broken, Kooky hasn't done anything about it.

Sleep schedule? What's that? Who needs sleep when there is Science to be done? 

Similarities

Both of them are highly motivated by curiosity. If they find something/someone that piques their interest, they'll want to know more about it and may come off as clingy towards people. If it's an interesting-sounding challenge or task, they'll try it just to see if they can.

Neither of them are the type to rush to violence, but once they do, it'll get... messy. Guaranteed to draw blood, at least.

Both of them enjoy classical music. For Lud, writing symphonic sheet music is a casual hobby, while Kooky is lulled to sleep by the sound of it. King Koopa regularly resorts to playing some when Kooky's been awake for more than 24 hours. Certainly works better than any sleep meds.

For Dalex fans, they're both drawn to the purple Koopa, but for different reasons. Ludwig likes (and later starts dating) Dal because he provides Lud with a sense of acceptance and comfort, and is patient when Lud's unofficial Prince duties keep them separated. 

Kooky, on the other hand, is obsessed with Dal (and/or his cartoon counterpart Tusky Koopa) because of the latter's potent venom. Kooky desperately wants to get his claws on it, and chases Dal/Tusky around so much that it might as well be a Scooby-Doo style gag. Unlike Lud and Dal, there is no romance to be found between Kooky and Tusky. Hell, Tusky is terrified of the guy!

Prompt: Last thoughts of the alt. characters (As in: Alph, the 7 Koopalings, Leaf, other gender swap characters, etc.) before Galeem blasted every living being in existence (including them) into oblivion.

((Thank you for the submission! Oof, this got a little long… Apologies if I missed anyone, though I purposefully didn’t write for the Inkling & Villager alts and Male Wii Fit as I felt their reactions would mostly be the same as their canon buddies.))

Alph had just enough time to realize what washappening, but not enough to do anything about it. He’d stayed behind perOlimar’s request to look after the pikmin who weren’t going to face the dangersahead. Alph didn’t object; he didn’t think much of the whispers and rumors of anew threat, feeling safe in the assumption that the fighters who left to faceit were strong enough to handle any opposition. But then Alph heard a strangenoise and looked up the see the sky streaked with tendrils of light. Somebranched off and came rushing towards him, swallowing any pikmin that dared toget in the way. In a panic, he tried one desperate call to Olimar. No! His heart sank as he was met withnothing but static before the light caught up to him.

For veteran trainers and pokemon, it was apopular belief that there was a special kind of pride to be had in facingdefeat, and even death, together as a team. Leaf watched Red hold true to this, standing beside his partnersuntil the very end. In that moment, she bit back tears of frustration. Shecouldn’t bring herself to care about pride; she’d gladly throw away every ounceof it if it meant her pokemon could live. Silently, she reached for her friends’pokeballs, hoping it was enough to keep them safe and begging her partners forforgiveness at her selfishness. All ofyou, return… The red light of the pokeballs disappeared inside a largerstreak of light before it ever reached its targets.

Robin’s mind spun, his Levin sword held in one hand ashe stood in a useless defensive position. He refused to give up, standing hisground. A battlefield was like one giant chess board, and he would not beoutsmarted, outplayed by an overgrown ball of light. He bit at his lip, hardenough to draw blood, as options were running out faster than he could think ofthem. There was no blocking the beams, proven by Link, Zelda and Mewtwo. Therewas no fighting them, proven by Samus, Red, and Bowser. There was no hiding,proven by Snake and the Inklings. And there was no running, proven by so manyothers. This can’t be it…! Anyscreams of protest or anger Robin had died on his lips as the light tore intohim.

If Corrin wasthinking clearly, he’d feel a little more ashamed of his actions. Surely, ifhis older brothers were here, they would give him the biggest scoldingimaginable for such a foolish tactic. Turning into a larger target while he wassupposed to be dodging an onslaught? How ridiculous! But Corrin’s thoughts wereclouding with despair, with memories of screaming and running as energy whippedall around while he stood uselessly, unable to process anything until it wastoo late. Corrin always felt more powerful as a dragon than as a man; it wouldbe a small comfort to die as such. Pleasestop! He roared in a language only he could understand, though it didn’tmatter much in the end.

The koopalings were a fair distance from thegathered fighters, too far away to see the army of hands approaching the cliff,but close enough to make out the light of Galeem floating in the sky. Theirfather had been torn about letting all of them come along, allowing them to tagalong at first but soon changing his mind and demanding they retreat to safety.It was the source of argument among the eight siblings. Bowser Jr, Roy, Wendy, and Mortoninsisted that it was cowardly to hide from the enemy, that there was nothingto worry about, nothing could defeat all of the fighters. On the other hand, Larry, Iggy, Lemmy, and Ludwig couldn’t help but feel Bowserwouldn’t try to send them away if the situation wasn’t serious. The eightsiblings were lost in argument when the black hole appeared in the sky, but allwords were cut off when ribbons of light burst forth, growing larger and largerwith each second. What’s going on?! Panicdrove them to run, but the effort was in vain.

Her hands shook, and Robin wished she could convince herself it was from the cracklingelectricity of her unused Thoron spell rather than the fear bubbling in hergut. Firing it would be useless, now, but keeping it was just as pointless.Still, she couldn’t afford to waste time debating on what to do with it. Theodds of her escaping were practically nonexistent, but she stubbornly refusedto throw away what little hope she could still cling onto. Robin turned to go,her eyes catching sight Chrom and Lucina, standing in an embrace as Chromshielded his daughter in whatever futile way he could. Angry tears sprung in Robin’seyes, whipped away by the wind as she charged towards them. The tactician was apoor runner, but her friends were not; if any of them were to live, they wouldhave a far better chance. Move, youfools! She cried in her mind as she shoved them out of the way of anincoming beam of light.

By some curse, Corrin remained as one of the last few standing. It was sheer dumb luck. When thefirst beam struck, eating away at its first victim, the princess was left in astate of shock. There she stayed, motionless and numb, until the light finallytwisted and curled in her direction. At that point, she saw no purpose infighting back, the realization of this reality and the shame of incompetenceweighing heavy on her. Why would she deserve to live anyways, when so manyother warriors far greater than her had fallen so easily? A soft melody bubbledin her throat, something to soothe her fears as she met her fate. Sing with me a song… Corrin closed hereyes and waited.

Question Meme: (Ignore this if you don't want to answer all these....) 1, 2, 3, 28, 31, 33, 40 (sorry i couldn't pick one)

40 Questions For ‘Fic Writers Meme

#1 - Describe your comfort zone—a typical you-fic.

Gradual character development spread across a piece with deepened, believable worldbuilding. You know, I often say I’m not into romance, but here’s the thing: A nice long, serious slow burn does a person good. I’ll happily accept romance if an author can really get me into the minds of the characters and make me want their relationship to develop as much as the characters do.

It’s shallow romance that rubs me the wrong way. Give me two characters who honestly, truly care about each other to the point where they’ll sacrifice something they love, or even be willing to let each other ago if it means the one they love will be happy. I love that. But if you’ve got one character who will pitch a fit rather than let their love be happy with someone else, you’re really working uphill with me.

Worldbuilding doesn’t have to be as deep and complex as my ‘fics tend to get, but I do love to see how different authors expand the same world in different ways. I’m not a big fan of horror and for some reason I just can’t get into sci-fi. I enjoy fantasy and biology.

Really, I love anything that doesn’t contradict canon. AUs? Eh, sometimes, but they’re not my favorite. I like behind-the-scenes, between-the-lines, believable futures, and backstory pieces with some nice worldbuilding. And some complex characters who don’t always make the best choices and then have to suffer the consequences for their actions. Yes. ‘Fics like those are very nice.

#2 - Is there a trope you’ve yet to try your hand at, but really want to?

A queerplatonic relationship that’s happy, healthy, and long-lasting. You would think I would let my aro/ace children be happy, but alas, ‘tis not to be! You could say I like to squash zucchinis. I am self-projecting my own insecurities. I made Bennett a horrible person to show the “worst possible relationship with an aro/ace who wants a sexless marriage” so that the hopes and dreams of the other aro/ace characters look more reasonable by comparison. I do that a lot.

Okay, I lied. I can think of six “official” queerplatonic relationships we will see in my FOP works, and one of them actually does have a happy ending. I mean, probably. I haven’t written it yet, so who knows?

Spoiler alert: Mario and Peach are the OTQP and I’m going to milk it. What can I say? I call ‘em like I see ‘em and canon literally gave us a plumber who’ll collect 120 Power Stars in return for cake, and a princess who turned down his hand in marriage after all the times he’s rescued her, but adores him anyway.

#3 - Is there a trope you wouldn’t touch with a ten-foot pole?

“We pretend to hate each other but secretly we’re both in love and will one day in the heat of the moment spontaneously confess our romantic feelings and form a mutual, caring relationship without any further character development.”

I don’t know if it’s because I’m a very serious, honest, straightforward person (being INTJ and all), or if it’s because I’m asexual, or if it’s a combination of both (or neither), but I can’t stand huge plots about people refusing to admit that they like someone. Love has always been a logical thing to me. I was sixteen before I found out sexual attraction was a real thing. I don’t really understand it, but I guess it’s possible to have physical feelings for someone even if you don’t logically want to? And you can’t stop yourself or turn it off? I honestly don’t know how that works, which is why the “I wish I wasn’t physically attracted to you” trope has infuriated me since childhood. I just didn’t get it.

Even before I realized I was asexual, I would have discussions with my mom about how if I ever had a crush, I would openly admit this to my friends if they asked. I wouldn’t protest or deny, as I see so many media characters do. Then it turned out I’m incapable of feeling physical attraction and I get friendship squishes instead of romantic crushes, so that happened.

As a general rule of thumb, you should trust the characters I write if they say they aren’t attracted to someone. If they like someone, they’ll tell you so. If they don’t, they’ll tell you that too. And if they’re confused, then it will be very clear that they’re confused. No means no. I’m very strict about that. Don’t read into it looking for signs that they’re being secretive even to the reader. They are not. I emotionally cannot bring myself to do that.

#28 - Share three of your favorite fic writers and why you like them so much.

Oooh. I’m going to say that Shaddic takes the cake on this one. If you’re a Total Drama fan, or even if you’re not, then “Daddy’s Characters” will break you deliciously like very few fanfics will. “Before and After” is just a step behind it. The emotion captured by these ‘fics is incredible, and I highly, highly recommend them if you’re into evil villains who are undeniably and yet realistically cruel. Both ‘fics revolve around Mike and his multiple personalities (“Daddy’s Characters” revolving around adult Mike and Zoey, married with a daughter and with twins on the way, coping with something horrid that lands a distraught Mike in prison, and “Before and After” being the trauma-filled childhood backstory ‘fic). 

Shaddic characterized everyone perfectly. So horribly, painfully well. Ugggh, I love it. My gallery has Identity Theft on the way, which will revolve around Foop and Hiccup and some multiple personality trauma, but it won’t be as beautiful as Shaddic’s work. They’re honestly worth a read if you ever have the time one day, even if you aren’t a Total Drama fan. You really don’t need to know the show to enjoy them. And enjoy them (and suffer) you will. In all my years, I’ve never seen an evil villain portrayed so… villainously. Love it.

I’m also a fan of SelanPike- partially for sentimental reasons, I suppose. I remember reading her Mario ‘fics over and over eight years ago, and I still read them today on a regular basis. Crazy how time flies. They’re just ones that I love going back to. As most of you know, I tend to fall in love with background characters. Fawful, Kamek, and Doopliss fit those qualifications- and coincidentally, those three are Selan’s favorites too! Technically, it’s because of her that the 130 Prompts project came to be. I always loved her 100 one-shot challenge, and that’s sort of how I eventually decided to write my own.

I really admire Selan for her characterizations. Her Kamek portrayal is my all-time favorite. So is her Fawful, her Doopliss, her Bowser, her Bowser Jr, her E. Gadd… she’s just a master of character. Even her freaking Jojora is spot-on. I mean, talk about background characters, am I right? Ha. Her writing is excellent and she has some fun plots. I always enjoyed drinking up her fanart and reading her comics on her deviantArt too. Still do. She has such a fun, bouncy art style. Her 8-page comic about Fawful attending school in the Mushroom Kingdom after Kamek hits him with the truant officer threat gets me every time.

I highly recommend “Until Tomorrow” (Her post-“Superstar Saga” ‘fic about Kamek and Fawful attempting to revive Cackletta so Kamek can kick her butt in a magic fight and Fawful can get the mother figure he refuses to call his mother figure back), and her famous ‘fic “On My Own” (about Fawful coping with Cackletta’s death and eventually working his way up the Koopa Kingdom social ladder). “Fragmented Spectrum” is a wonderful, tense, horror-ish ‘fic as well, with my absolute favorite Bowser Jr. portrayal. Plus, I love the rivalry between Kamek and Fawful seen in “F.S.” with Fawful trying to draw magic circles that he decided must be 100% perfect to count as circles, and Kamek not even knowing how to deal with him and his technology brain. Beautiful. 

Check out the rest of her gallery too. Her two FFN fandoms are Mario and Invader Zim. She isn’t active there anymore, but her ‘fics are worth the read. I will say that I’m not a fan of her ‘fic “Everything You Ever” because I feel that Cackletta was way too sweet and nice for an evil villain in that one. But then again, I haven’t read it in years, so who knows. I’m not crazy about Selan’s Peach portrayal either, but that’s where my third recommendation comes in.

GuardianM1234 is a recent discovery of mine, and she does not disappoint. I’m a big fan of her ongoing ‘fic “Smoke” (which updates twice a month right now and is nearing its climax). It’s basically the story of Peach and Bowser growing up, and the development of their relationship from being fairly friendly as children to their complex relationship as adults. I’ve never seen Peach portrayed so perfectly, and I adore her. Never thought I would, but I do. Guardian also has a very unique take on Mario that’ll really make you squirm.

I love Guardian’s writing because she pits characters in emotionally-difficult situations and lets them learn and grow. They make bad choices, but she demonizes no one. Not even Bowser. Plus, Bowser has a little sideplot with Clawdia going on (the canon mother of the Koopalings if you know your deep hidden lore, though since the Koopalings were recently ruled “not Bowser’s children” by Nintendo’s “official” canon, I don’t know if she will be their mother in “Smoke” or where Guardian is taking this ‘fic). Basically, what I’m saying is, Clawdia and Bowser roastfest. Be there. They crack me up. And Guardian’s TOADSWORTH is perfection. Please give that old boy his gossip.

Plus, Daisy takes Bowser shopping for wedding dresses once and he bribes her with a six-pack of soda. Nice, short chapters with a few pleasant hints of worldbuilding slipped in, and a LOT of character. Guardian is still somewhat new to fanfiction, but she’s very sweet and she would adore some reviews if you do read her work. If you love her stuff, give her a shout-out! She’s great.

#31 - Do you take liberties with canon or are you very strict about your fic being canon compliant?

I fall halfway between this one. The answer is, sort of both! For my main fandoms, I have one rule: I don’t contradict canon, unless canon contradicted itself and I was forced to pick a side. Origin gets so deep into biology and Knots into culture that they feel more like original works than fanfics sometimes, because I’ll flesh things out as much as I want to. So that’s sort of a liberty I take with canon. But I never contradict canon if I don’t have to. I always comply.

It’s a puzzle. I love connecting dots behind the scenes. I love forcing everything that’s canon to be canon, even if it looks like it contradicted itself. If I can solve a plot hole, I try to. I will make ridiculous backbends to fit colorful Anti-Fairy eyes, Crocker’s ebb and flow of wealth, Miss Idaho’s “rare genetic condition that prevents her from aging,” Mary Alice Doombringer’s random abilities, and Girlfriend the cat’s sentience into Riddleverse canon, and I’ll love every second of it. I only cut a piece of canon out if I feel like I absolutely have to. It’s fun.

I can definitely enjoy reading ‘fics that stray from canon, and might even write them on occasion. But the reason why I write fanfics is because I loved the canon and I want to see it expanded, not taken away. I’d like to publish my original works someday, so if I’m not sticking close to source material, why would I write a fanfic that I could publish as an original work instead? 

For the same reasons, I’d rather read a fanfic that expands on canon than eliminates it. When I fall in love with something, I fall in love with its world. I like ‘fics that blend worldbuilding aspects in with the plot they’re writing, even if it’s a short one-shot. I don’t love reading something that feels like its writer just inserted the names of popular characters into their otherwise original work so that people would read it. I want to have the little details and feel convinced that these are the characters (and the world) that I love. Personal preference.

In some cases, I default to realism over canon, such as by giving Cosmo the ability to recognize faces. In my psychology classes, I’ve learned that sometimes during investigations, police will show pictures to people and ask them to select the face that matches the one they were shown earlier. People pretending to be mentally handicapped in some way will often get the answers wrong on purpose in an attempt to maintain their facade, while those who are actually mentally handicapped will get them right. Just a nitpicky thing I do.

So I often favor realism over canon in certain ways, even if it possibly contradicts canon a bit. I respect canon and try to stay true to it as much as possible because I enjoy doing so, but I don’t consider myself 100% beholden to it, especially considering how many different contributors there can be to a project over the years. I do my best, but enjoying what I write comes first.

#33 - How do you feel about crack?

I can enjoy the occasional way-out-there thing, but I prefer serious stories in general.

#40 - Write an alternative ending to [insert fic title] (or just the summary of one).

Well, you didn’t give me a ‘fic you wanted to see an alternate ending to, but I do have a few short pieces I can share. You see, the “That Was Then” Prompt (the Jay Rhoswen and his studies about Anti-Fairies one) wasn’t supposed to end the way it did. Here is how it was meant to go:

Rhoswen scooted back hand over hand along the counter, his feet skittering in the vapor. What in the name of dust was he doing? He shouldn’t be looking at his wife’s counterpart more than at his wife! He shouldn’t be having these sorts of thoughts at all!

Anti-Shylinda placed her palms to his cheeks and gazed into his eyes. “No talk,” she whispered, and when she leaned forward, those burning lips closed over his.

As for whether that Seelie Courter chose to kiss the anti-fairy back once she’d started to draw away? Well… You ought to look to the term “Rhoswen syndrome” to answer that.

I didn’t like the idea of Anti-Shylinda being the one to make moves on Jay, so I scrapped it. Not only that, but the whole piece is written as snippets from Rhoswen’s journal now, so the voice here no longer fit the narrative.

At the end of the first chapter of Frayed Knots, “String Theory”, Anti-Cosmo cuts off the tips of his ears. I was originally going to expand the scene as follows:

Blood spattered the floor. With a hiss through my teeth, I withdrew the knife and dabbed the blood up with my sleeve. The stone might stain.

Recalculating, I dragged my stool over to the sink. The angle was awkward, but at least my blood would wash easily away. There, I slit off the tip of my ear, cutting carefully around my first canetis ring. Then I mirrored the action on the other side. Both rings bounced across the stone with a clink, click, clatter.

I uncurled my tongue and set the knife aside. Then I took the severed tips of my ears and held them to my head again. It took three agonizing minutes, but the smoke that filled my veins stretched out and wound around my fingers. It absorbed my ears and pressed them into place again. Full, soft, and whole. I fingered the gashes mother’s piercing clamp had left behind. Apparently, even regeneration couldn’t heal injuries left by an unenchanted tool. Useful information to know.

The canetis rings disappeared into my pocket. Then I got up and pushed open the window. I took a running start, dove out, and unfurled my wings.

However, I kind of liked leaving the chapter on the cliffhanger of “Oh my gosh, what did he just do to himself???” I also couldn’t include a sink in the castle in a time period when there is no indoor plumbing. Then I decided that I would rather give Anti-Cosmo permanent gashes in his ears he had caused himself, rather than ones caused by his mother, to always remind him (and everyone around him) of that day he stood against Anti-Fairy tradition. Kind of a shame to delete the scene since I like how it gave us information about smoke and Anti-Fairy healing right from the start. I might recycle it later.

Actually, if we’re talking about the original version of Knots, everything was supposed to be different than what it was. Here is another deleted scene that was originally planned to be the opening scene of Knots:

“Mum, I’m nine and a half minutes old. I’m not a baby anymore. Come on, please? You let Anti-Robin leave home to get his wand when he was only three!”

“You weren’t even born yet. How can you possibly know that?”

“He told me about thirty seconds ago, right before you came in here.” I grabbed my mother’s skirt in two tiny fists. “Mum, I’m going to be the only pup in the colony without a wand. What about our image?”

She wavered visibly, running her thumb along her staff. “Well…”

Father peered over his spectacles and frowned. “Now, wait just a minute here, Anti-Florensa. He’s just a pup. You can’t send him into the woods to gather the materials for his first wand all by himself.”

“But it has always been our family’s tradition,” she sniffed. “It’s not as though he’ll die. On the contrary, I’m more concerned about him killing valuable plants with his acid. Anti-Cosmo, you’re drooling again.”

I wiped my mouth. “Sorry, Mum.”

I really loved the “I’m nine and a half minutes old- I’m not a baby anymore!” idea, especially since there aren’t many times when you’ll have the chance to use it. As you can see, Frayed Knots was going to begin with baby Anti-Cosmo leaving his manor home alone to obtain his first wand. 

But overall, in the end, I decided that it was more important to show the importance of smoke in Anti-Fairy culture, and we ended up with the scene we have now. Also, I really wanted Anti-Cosmo to grow up never knowing who his father was until several years after Anti-Robin had died, which meant I had to scrap or replace this scene in some way anyway.

The “Mama’s Boy” Prompt was actually written with the manor idea in mind, and I believe Anti-Florensa even uses the word “manor” in it. I added an author’s note to that piece several months ago mentioning that “Mama’s Boy” is semi-canon for now until Frayed Knots is finalized. A lot has changed.

Some other deleted scenes from the early plans of “Anti-Cosmo lives with his family in a manor near the Castle, and they are nobles but not royalty” include:

“I got something for you, kiddo.” Anti-Robin flicked an aluminum medal across the table that read #2 Son. I grinned.

“This is for me? Thanks! I love it!”

He tilted down his glasses. “You say, ‘Thank you, Father, for this generous gift.’”

I repeated the words, and he tousled my hair. “Now, go do second son things.”

“Yes, sir! I will! Thank you, Father!” With the medal swinging from my neck, I trotted happily off.

and

I clung to the frame of his office door, beating my wings to keep myself from staggering forward. I knew better than to cross the threshold, even though there was nothing I wanted more in the universe right then than to throw my arms around his waist and squeeze him in a hug. The bruise Mother had left on my arm hurt even more now than it did in the kitchen, somehow. My eyes slid back and forth across his desk.

“Where are you going?”

Anti-Robin calmly placed another folded shirt inside the suitcase. “Back to Anti-Scarlett’s.”

“With your other family?” I asked. “With her kids, Anti-Xavier and Anti-Tom?”

“Yes.”

“Why can’t I come with you? I want to meet them.”

“It’s a dad thing.” He closed the suitcase with two clicks and turned around. His eyes were steely calm, his frown very firm. “You’ll understand when you’re older.”

and

“ELEANOR!”

Anti-Robin and I grabbed our mouths and looked at each other, gaping with our eyes. Mother was over 150,000 years old. Her real name wasn’t supposed to be said out loud.

Father slammed a newspaper on the table, then stepped back and crossed his arms. “Might I inquire what the meaning of this is, ‘dear’?”

“Whatever do you mean?” she asked, not looking up from the end of her staff. She studied its base, then ran her polish rag across it again.

“Anti-Bryndin had the green fairy locked up, and I know you’re behind it.”

So, don’t feel too sad that Anti-Cosmo grows up without a dad in my works! It wouldn’t have been the best relationship anyway. Besides that, now that I’ve had time to think about it, this Anti-Robin portrayal isn’t that far off Ambrosine, and I’d rather H.P. and Anti-Cosmo had fathers with very different personalities.

If you have a really sharp memory, you may possibly remember seeing that medal around Anti-Cosmo’s neck when I drew my late-night FOP/Moana doodle dump that one time.

I also have oodles of scenes deleted from Anti-Cosmo’s visit to Winkleglint’s estate, since originally Scarletfeather was supposed to show up and Anti-Cosmo panicked when he couldn’t stop Scarletfeather from luring Mr. Thimble away. I could have filled another entire chapter with what happened during that study abroad week, but in the end I decided they were mostly self-indulgent and not important enough in the grand scheme of things to justify leaving in.

I’m skimming through my files of deleted scenes and I forgot I had this one too. Anti-Cosmo wasn’t supposed to have his intelligence test proctored by Ambrosine originally, as I was going to send him to this mental hospital facility. I decided against it, but here is a terrifying scene that we almost got. So, it’s technically an alternative ending too:

Dr. Gabriel handed me a piece of bark marked with the word Failed. “Don’t get cocky. Everyone has their limits.”

Failed? That lout outright failed me? I dropped the bark strip and looked up as Dr. Gabriel spread his wings. With a few sharp beats, he flew out of the pit. I chased after him, searching the platform above me with my eyes. So I couldn’t fly, and I was short, but I could make that leap-

“Oof!”

Or… perhaps not. I slid back down to the floor and landed on my rump. Never one to be deterred, I leaped back to my feet. Something to boost me, something to boost me… Oh! Snatching up his forgotten broom, I backed against the opposite wall, and then ran forward. I shoved the handle of the broom into the corner offered by the platform and the floor and launched myself into the air. Yes! Yes! Ahahaha! I hurtled out of the pit and went rolling across the ground. Dr. Gabriel spun around, his mouth falling open in surprise.

“Please,” I begged him, climbing to my feet again. My broken wings batted feebly behind me. “I want to gain a Fairy education. Level with me, doctor. You don’t want Anti-Fairies filling up your precious conservative school. And I don’t want Anti-Fairies filling it up either. True, we Anti-Fairies are known for our memories, but I like to feel special, and I shouldn’t want to chance anyone stealing my thunder away from me. You let me in, and I won’t breathe a word about your biases against my people.”

Dr. Gabriel studied me with idle coldness, clutching his tablets to his chest. He drifted a few steps backwards along the corridor. “Anti-Cosmo, your genius is entirely creative. You’re severely behind in your knowledge of technical skills, and you lack basic common sense as well as a sense of self-preservation. Because of this, we can’t recommend you be placed in any advanced programs. You’ll need to stay where you’re at.”

The corners of my mouth twisted into a frown. Then a sneer. “Frankly, Dr. Gabriel, I’m not particularly fond of that option.”

With that, I yanked out the can of forget-a-cin I’d nicked from his pouch when he’d been turned the other way. Dr. Gabriel had time to look horrified before I mashed the button down. My eyes were squeezed shut, but even so, the world around me lit with white. I let the empty canister fall to the floor and opened my eyes again to find the nervous fairy glancing around in bewilderment.

“There,” I said. “I’ve just put a block over this memory of yours. I do hope no one else would care to challenge me, or I will be forced to perform the same trick on them. Now, I demand that you, good sir, will have me enrolled in all the classes of my choosing. Is that understood?”

Dr. Gabriel’s wandering eyes finally latched onto me. His shoulders shivered, although he possibly didn’t remember why. He bobbed a bit lower in the air. Then his wings fell silent altogether, and he leaned his back against the wall. He slid down to the floor. “S-security! Security?”

His voice was too weak for anyone who wasn’t an Anti-Fairy to hear. I sighed. Covering my eyes again, I made a signal with my other hand. “Oh, dear. I do apologize. I really never do this, you must understand. It’s so messy.”

If he hadn’t been so hazy from the aftereffects of the forget-a-cin, I’m sure Dr. Gabriel wouldn’t have let me get away with as much as he did. As it happened, I walked right up to him and lay my claw against the karmic pouch on the left side of his neck. He yelped, but I knocked his clumsy hands away from me without any real effort. I braced my hand against my hip.

“I really never do this. It’s vile and crude. So sorry, I really am. But then again, well, perhaps I’m really not.” And with that, I sunk my fangs into his neck. Blech. He tasted of old mutton.

Dr. Gabriel screamed. He twisted, his shoulders rapidly seizing up. I rolled my eyes and kept my fangs embedded until his coughs turned to silence and he had frozen in place, as still as a stone statue. Only then did I wrench back my head, bringing the coils of his karmic weave along with me. Most of them were blue, but here and there a pink one surfaced, or a yellow. As the colourful threads of his life whisked above us, I stood back and traced one claw beneath my eye.

“Anti-Fairy tears consist mainly of sulfuric acid, of course. And I daresay you hurt my feelings quite a bit back there, didn’t you?”

Forcing myself to cry came as naturally as forcing myself not to cry always had. I captured the burning tear on the end of my claw and, very slowly, held it out towards the paralyzed fairy sitting against the wall. For several long seconds, I let him see it glistening there. Threatening to drip down on the place where I had bitten him. Which was still bleeding.

“I never do this,” I said again, truthfully apologetic. “It’s messy and you’ll be rather cross when you wake up, assuming you wake again at all. But it is true that I am crying, and here you are, lying so very still. We’re standing rather close, aren’t we? So close that I could touch you.”

Lacking the ability to move, all Dr. Gabriel could do was sit numbly, his mouth gaping. I lowered my claw towards his neck.

“But it’s only a single tear, isn’t it? Why should a fairy care if he made an anti-fairy child cry? No, a single tear cannot hurt your conscience. A single tear may sting your skin, perhaps, but it shouldn’t cause any long-lasting problem so long as no liquid in your body is particularly warm. Oh, wait…” Here I feigned surprise, and brought my claw a mere centimetre from his karmic pouch. Green liquid trickled down his neck. I smiled. “Why, internal Fairy body temperature borders on the boiling point, does it not? Oooh, I’d hate to see what happens when that acid comes into contact with your blood. I’ve heard it’s prone to such catastrophic explosions.”

There was, of course, no reply. Sighing, I withdrew my handkerchief from my pocket and wiped the tear from my claw.

“No, but I suppose I’m a gentleman, so I shan’t leave you comfortless. As I told you, I really never do this. I’m all boasts and bluster, really. That’s all I really am. Let’s get you cleaned up, lad.”

I was just wiping away the last drops of acid from his stunned face when the door opened behind me. I looked over my shoulder to find Anti-Jolene floating there with a clipboard in hand. She took in the threads of wild karma and my kerchief, and looked at me with her ears cocked forward.

“So… How is it going?”

I sighed and tucked the handkerchief away. “Dr. Gabriel and I have just finished, painfully. I say, are business deals with Fairies always so messy?”

She smiled a thin smile. “It would behoove us to find a neutral party who could settle things between our two races more easily, wouldn’t it?”

“I’ll be cleaning karma out of my fur for weeks,” I muttered, and went about gathering up his tangled threads so I could stuff them back inside his soul.

He was one messed up kid in this draft, that is for sure. Who knows? Perhaps I’ll find a place for this scene in the current version someday, if I ever need to send an older Anti-Cosmo to a mental health facility. For now, however, it’s deleted.

“This Is a Box” was actually supposed to end differently as well. And of course, so was “This Is Halloween.” Every once in awhile I’ll have a piece get away from me and end the way it wants, but most of them end the way I plan from the start.

Thanks for all your requests! I really appreciate your curiosity!

P & Q

P: How much do you plan in advance versus letting the story unfold as you go?

Story-wise, ends and general events are always planned early on (All 130 Prompts, most of Identity Theft, Hawthorn Haven, Little Imperfections, No Anesthetic, Factor It In, Devil’s Backbone, and so on are already planned even though I won’t be posting some of these things for years), so it’s just a matter of doing the actual writing. Beginnings come next and middles come last.

For me, writing is a matter of saying, “Here is my destination. Where are we coming from and how do we get there?” Depending on what I’m writing, sometimes where I’m coming from is the previous chapter, sometimes it’s a specific point in my timeline. Chapters don’t require a lot of set-up because readers should more or less remember what’s recently happened to a character, but with one-shots I have to clarify not only the setting, but recent events as best as I can. There’s a different mindset there.

Origin, Knots, and the Prompts are divided into over a hundred different files in Google Docs, so I can’t give an accurate word count, but I probably have 200k words on hand for both Origin and Knots and at least 300k for the Prompts. I wrote scenes I consider significant early on and I’m working my way towards them, correcting inconsistencies along the way.

What I plan worldbuilding-wise for a fantasy series is another topic altogether (Expanded on below the cut).

Sociopolitical Aspects

For my Mario works, for example, the first thing planned was how the Koopa Kingdom is laid out, and where the Koopalings fit into my ideas. Then it was a matter of deciding which parts of canon I want to draw from and what I want to do with it. I didn’t rule out the new kingdoms revealed in Odyssey, but I definitely didn’t erase Sarasaland and the Beanbean Kingdom either. I worked out the political systems of a few countries, what the social norms and big crimes are, and the basics of Bowser’s inclination towards violence.

I have a document noting what the people of each land are called and what their native languages are so I don’t have to worry about contradicting myself later, which has been extremely useful. I even determined populations for different kingdoms, with the Mushroom Kingdom at about 235 million people, the Koopa Kingdom almost twice that, and the Beanbean Kingdom a measly 4 million. Even if this info never comes up in story, it helps me understand how people interact with one another and fit into this system.

In my FOP works, I worked out the history of Fairy/Anti-Fairy conflicts, drawing from aspects of canon such as the known war over human godchildren. The Pixies fit in there too as the neutral party. Then there’s the matter of fitting in the aliens and humans. Deeper yet, the Ghosts and Beasts. Figuring out the international relationships up front works best for me, and then I can later determine how characters with this background interact in this environment.

In my Danny Phantom works, I drew from a comment Butch made once that although King Pariah was a tyrant, he did keep the Ghost Zone organized and it’s fallen to chaos since he was overthrown. I worked out Ghost-Skeleton relations, how the Observants play into things, and what the space within the world might be like.

In my WordGirl works, determining how Hexagon functions was crucial to what I decided to do with Kid Math: In this case, his planet is obsessed with math to the point they only have spoken language, not a written one. They use numbers and mark up blueprints, but written language is for the Lexiconians [Insert snobby scoffing].

When writing Rhyme and Reason backstory, I worked out how common powers are, how those with certain powers are treated by society, what kind of education kids with powers get pushed towards, what laws might exist, how many heroes there might be, and how police involvement works in cities that have heroes. In this alternate world, there are things called charm schools that are “finishing schools” for kids with powers, and Rhyme was almost sent to one until she ran away.

Physical Aspects

I made the Mushroom Kingdom an archipelago and chose Indonesia as my main inspiration country, researching the climate, seasons, plants, and meals typically found there. I know exactly when the dry season ends and the wet season starts and how this affects the Piranha Plants.

In FOP, I understand the landscapes of Fairy World and Anti-Fairy World, what kinds of mountains and water features they can have, and the flora and fauna found in each location. I know ways to move between locations, what travel is possible with magic, and what happens in times there isn’t any magic. I know what the major buildings are, where they are, and what they do.

In my DP works, there are certain stable parts of the Ghost Zone and certain unstable parts. It’s easy to get lost if you’re new there and not used to things moving around, but as you learn the rules of the world, you’re able to identify landmarks. I know which populations live where and what those landscapes are like. I came up with rules for how lairs work and how far things can move about the Zone. I know how things work and which characters know X amount of information about their surroundings.

Cultural Aspects

I pored over a LOT of small details in canon for my Mario works. I took painstaking notes about the Soybean civilization, the ancient Luffs, the fallen Bask Kingdom, and all sorts of historical tidbits and worked those into modern canon. Some stuff didn’t cross my path during my personal gameplay, but I like knowing about it anyhow.

I considered Peach’s pathway to becoming queen and how she fits her role, especially compared to her predecessors. I made stars important in Mushroom Kingdom culture and the moon important in Koopa culture. I created lore for why karting exists, canonizing all locations and the general idea of kart racing even if I’m not going to make every kart track canon or organize each game in a timeline.

FOP worldbuilding involved gathering as much canon from the show as possible, collecting info from folklore, plucking bits and pieces from insect and bat biology, and marrying the three together. It was important to me to give Fairy World a distinct culture different from any on Earth, and really examine how magic affects daily life in this world.

Anthropomorphizing insect behaviors gave me Fairies who lick faces as a form of greeting and who favor those with freckles above those without. Not exactly accurate to show canon, but it works great. Gyne and drone relationships have been fun to build, and I made sure my timeline included points in the past where such relations were different than modern times. Changes in relationships over time is something that really fascinates me.

Anti-Fairy World also gets a unique culture. Since they’re evil antagonists in show canon, I certainly didn’t want to race-code them like any group of people on Earth. I’ve tried to design them their own culture, heavily inspired by bats and a belief in luck above all. Bats aren’t sociosexual, but they are promiscuous, so I don’t stick wholly to bat behaviors either: they’re partially based on bonobos. Most importantly, I made sure everything I did was fun for me to write.

With my particular writing style, it works to have deep, complex culture for the Anti-Fairies. If I wanted to write short, lighthearted pieces, that would impact where my worldbuilding priorities lay (Probably lots of cute holiday traditions and less focus on why Anti-Fairy culture revolves around causing others harm).

General Research

Heights, timelines, food, and clothes are all things I settle as soon as possible, and I keep ref sheets on hand so I can fact check myself at a glance. Fairies and Anti-Fairies, being a species who live in the clouds, have easier access to silkworms than cotton plants. That determines what their clothing is made of, what products are expensive, and what gets worn on certain occasions. 

I draw from canon where possible, using screenshots or known character heights (Mario canonically 5′1″) and comparing them to others. Being of a different height can impact how others view you. Dining etiquette is a fun cultural difference that can create conversation or social awkwardness and really set the mood.

With fanfics, I dig as deep as I can. Did you know Wario canonically doesn’t know how old he is because his mom never threw him a birthday party? Or that he keeps a matchbox of ants in his cabinet and is “waiting until they worship him as a god”? I drink details like this by the gallon.

I prefer nailing this stuff down before getting far in my writing because that’s what works for me personally. I worldbuild further over time as I think up new questions I didn’t already have answers for.

Unique Aspects

Magic systems are complex. They generally take me longest and are more work than play. I like to have an outline of how a magic system works, write the story, figure out what I absolutely need magic to do and what I don’t want it to do, and then tighten the system during the revision process. For example, I weakened shapeshifting in my FOP works so you can’t easily hold another form while aroused- I personally didn’t want age changes to be involved in lovemaking. That expanded to making it hard to hold a form when you’re drunk too.

It was important to me in my Mario works to have 1-Up mushrooms exist and be capable of saving your life, but I also needed a reason why people don’t walk around with 99 lives and consume 1-Ups at all times. After wrestling with plans for a while, I decided to make them time-sensitive. You have to consume them often to have more than one life on a regular basis, and they’re pretty rare. As long as I can justify why someone has access to this rare item, I can utilize a 1-Up’s power, but I can also justify killing someone off if enough time has passed since they last consumed one.

With Fairly OddParents, I’d seen enough episodes to understand the basics of wishes, magical backup, and Da Rules. When I became serious about writing FOP ‘fics, I started noting the times Cosmo and Wanda failed to use magic for reasons other than Da Rules (Not in sync with each other, low battery, lack of belief in magic, Big Wand toppled over, etc.) and built my version of the FOP magic system to accommodate as many of these “inconsistencies” as I could. My take on magic is complex, but I can stretch the system many ways, so it works great for me.

Will I use everything I’ve worldbuilt in story? I might not say it directly, but having a pool of information I can draw from helps me find ways to flesh out a character’s life. Some stuff makes it in, other stuff is only vaguely glimpsed. To me, diving into worldbuilding is fun. Taking what I have and creating something with it is even more fun. I could whip out a bunch of one-shots about basic slice-of-life events without doing all this work, but tying my stories to social, political, or culture aspects of the world is what I really enjoy.

Q: Do you have any discarded scenes/storylines/projects?

//Laughs

I don’t like deleting things, so I move them to scrap docs instead. Origin, Knots, and the 130 Prompts each have a scrap file of 50+ pages (91 pages of scrapped Prompt scenes) and I can usually remember keywords so the deleted scenes are easy to search for if I need them. Some get recycled, even back into the same chapter I originally deleted them from, but a lot stay dead because they were either irrelevant or inconsistent with the final material. 

Fortunately for me, I have a good memory of what I kept vs. what I scrapped. I’ve compiled some favorites in my deviantArt Sta.sh and linked them in my FOP sideblog because they’re my version of sketchdumps. Even if they’re unfinished, I still think they’re interesting to look at.

For some reason I don’t delete much from my standalone one-shots, just my multi-chapter stuff. Most of what enters my standalones survives.

The projects I’m most hurt to have left hanging are my Total Drama stories The Beatin’ Path and Lions Under Palm Trees, keeping with my tradition of writing stories about eliminated contestants at that season’s elimination location from the perspective of the first character eliminated. I have a good 15k words written for the former and 25k for the latter, and I just… let them slip through my fingers in favor of Fairly OddParents years ago.

Arguably letting them go is for the best because I took the “cartoon physics are canon” concept and RAN with it, so I have an entire plot arc about one character coming into puberty and having his ability to utilize cartoon physics switch on for the first time. I personally consider Lions one of my best works in terms of matching my niche interests, but the acknowledgement of cartoon physics does stray from Total Drama canon, and I just couldn’t get over that enough to keep posting it.

Some of my all-time favorite scenes and characterizations are in these stories. I’m glad I have what I do for myself because these works make me smile even all these years later, buuut it’s probably best if I keep most of this nonsense private. This is probably my favorite snippet of the entire Lions draft, though:

“What’s in the box?”

Don’t say the hearts of small animals, don’t say the hearts of small animals.

“Stuff for my girlfriend.” It wasn’t untrue.

The least loved always end up my favorites somehow. I’m still so in love with my delusional wizard. I honestly might love Leonard more than I love any of the FOP characters I write about nowadays; he was the best I ever had. I mean, look at this FREAKING CHILD-

====

“Hand me my dice.”

Beardo dropped the dice in his hand. Leonard rolled them across the grass. Nine. He groaned. But, obediently, he knelt and poked his head inside the damaged zeppelin.

“Roll me an observance check.”

“Snake eyes.”

“Seriously? It’s dark. Try again. Higher this time.”

Beardo gave the dice another toss. “Lucky lucky seven.”

Leonard let out a high whistle between his front teeth. “No response,” he said after a moment. “I don’t think there are any animals down there, except maybe a few rats and some bugs. All right, I’m jumping down. Keep an eye on my back.”

He slid through the gap and dropped out of sight. Beardo heard him say, “Lux up,” and click the penlight on his keychain.

====

“Incriminatus, television.”

No reaction.

“Incriminatus, television.”

No reaction. The Christmas advertisements blared on. Leonard raised his wand to his eye, then slapped the tip a few times against his palm. “Come on, wand. Tammy isn’t here anymore. Why aren’t you working? I still believe in you.”

The door eased open. “Hey, Leonard,” Jen said in a voice of false cheerfulness. “I got your toothbrush out of… the other room.”

Leonard didn’t try to switch off the TV and faced the window instead. “Brushing teeth is for people who can’t do it with magic.”

====

“Wait.” Leonard raised both hands above his head, squeezing his eyelids tight. “Wait. What you’re saying is, Scarlett pulled a Courtney to the extreme and hid her secret identity as an ‘evil’ mastermind supervillain shaman queen this entire time. She played a character so well that even her closest friend – not to mention Chris – couldn’t see through her act until she chose to reveal herself. At which point she then convinced everyone that she was actually said ‘evil’ mastermind supervillain. You’re telling me there was a LARPing goddess in my presence, and I completely missed it.”

“I didn’t put it in those words for a reason,” Jasmine said, “but at its core, yes.”

Leonard pressed his hands to his cheeks and stared into his salad. “Holy flipping plot twist. I am so turned on right now.”

“No,” Jasmine said, jabbing him in the chest with one finger, “No you are not.”

Amy clicked her tongue. “Leonard, you have a girlfriend.”

“Not anymore. That’s it. I’m breaking up with Tammy for real this time.”

Beardo slapped him on the back of the head and made a sound like a police siren.

====

One Lions chapter was named “Baa Baa Blackmail” if that tells you anything. Ah, memories… It’s probably for the best if these projects stay retired, but I love them so very much.

Fanfic Ask Meme