The 'Shroom:Issue 217/Pipe Plaza
Director's Notes
Hello and Happy April!!! The weather is starting to warm up here, and I have the occasional excuse to blast the AC in my car on the way to work ^^
I'm in an especially good mood this month because of the grand return of Black Butler! The manga came back from hiatus (which was well deserved bc this thing's been running close to 20 years with no breaks until June of last year!!), and the fifth season of the anime has started airing. This season is adapting my second-favorite arc of the manga, and there's many moments that I cant wait to see play out on screen. Life is gooooood.
Joining us for the first time this year is Anniversary Announcements! No Mario Calendar this month, unfortunately, but we still have a pretty solid selection of sections for you to read here in Pipe Plaza! Remember that you can write for Pipe Plaza, or any other team, at any time! Just head to the sign up page to get started!
That's about all I have for you here. Go out, enjoy life, and do great things!
Section of the Month
Congratulations to this month's winners! In first place, we have Waluigi Time (talk) with Awards Analysis! Shoey (talk) takes silver with Archie Sonic Comic Shoebox, and bronze with What's in a Campaign?! Thank you to everyone who votes for their favorite sections as well.
| PIPE PLAZA SECTION OF THE MONTH | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Place | Section | Votes | % | Writer |
| 1st | Awards Analysis | 6 | 40.00% | Waluigi Time (talk) |
| 2nd | Archie Sonic Comic Shoebox | 5 | 33.33% | Shoey (talk) |
| 3rd | What's in a Campaign? | 3 | 20.00% | Shoey (talk) |
To-Do Tracker
Written by: Camwoodstock (talk)
Howdy! How has the last month treated you? This was a very... turbulent month for us, some high highs and low lows. It was our birthday! We also had maybe one of the roughest weekends of our life a few weeks before that. The Switch 2 information is exciting! We're definitely not affording it anywhere near launch. However, through it all, nothing on the to-do bar has escaped our grasp!
Note: All dates here were taken fairly late at night in EST; around 1-3 AM EST.
| To-Do Item | Mar 12, 2025 | Mar 19, 2025 | Mar 26, 2025 | Apr 2, 2025 | Apr 9, 2025 | Apr 16, 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spotlight focuses | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Ongoing TPPs | 22 | 24 | 22 | 26 | 20 | 19 |
| Unimplemented Proposals | 20+ | 20+ | 20+ | 20+ | 20+ | 30+ |
| Unresolved Discussions | 298 | 288 | 288 | 288 | 264 | 261 |
| Construction Projects | 152 | 148 | 150 | 148 | 148 | 145 |
| Rewrites Needed | 104 | 110 | 112 | 109 | 112 | 114 |
| Sourcing Issues | 19,607 | 19,602 | 19,650 | 20,016 | 20,075 | 20,044 |
| Stub Articles | 580 | 582 | 582 | 582 | 583 | 609 |
| Wanted Articles | 1000+ | 1000+ | 1000+ | 1000+ | 1000+ | 1000+ |
| Pending Deletions | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | N/A | N/A |
| Requested Deletions | 5 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 7 |
| Suggested Merges | 66 | 74 | 75 | 76 | 72 | 70 |
| Suggested Moves | 53 | 55 | 56 | 53 | 59 | 57 |
| Suggested Splits | 26 | 24 | 24 | 22 | 27 | 30 |
| Broken File Link | N/A | N/A | N/A | 1 | N/A | N/A |
| Deprecated Templates | 332 | 331 | 320 | 307 | N/A | N/A |
| Descriptions Needed | 19,073 | 17,215 | 14,988 | 12,383 | 8,970 | 6,786 |
| Duplicate Argument | N/A | N/A | N/A | 1 | N/A | N/A |
| Unknown Meanings | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 |
| Image Quality | 3,866 | 3,871 | 3,879 | 3,886 | 3,889 | 3,900 |
| Images Needed | 765 | 759 | 756 | 738 | 714 | 713 |
| Media Needed | 195 | 196 | 198 | 199 | 199 | 207 |
| Media Quality | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 |
| Unused Files | 200+ | 200+ | 200+ | 200+ | 200+ | 200+ |
For some observations for how the numbers have progressed, and some potential targets:
- This was a truly busy month for TPPs; for the majority of the month, over 20 of them were going on at a given time! Fortunately, implementation mostly kept pace, though unfortunately, it's still sitting at 20+, and at the very end, it's bumped up to 30+.
- With the absolute deluge of news coming out for the Switch 2, this has naturally beget more sourcing concerns; this is reflected in the sourcing issues category, which has crossed the 20k mark, while the foreign names subcategory still hovers around only 17.6k; for once, that can't be the culprit for that category growing this time around. Even still, it does take up the vast majority of entries in that category, so we're once again signalling the bilingual members of our crowd here! And of course, if you're adding information for the upcoming Switch 2 titles, please make sure to source it!
- The clear success story has to be deprecated templates, which hovered around 300 or so before being completely emptied out, which even took the templates that were pending deletion with them. Talk about two birds with one stone; congratulations!
- Suggested merges and splits saw a small increase overall, while moves held mostly steady. Not much to say about this specific trifecta this time around.
- In addition, Descriptions Needed has had its fair share of success, being cut down to just about a third of its size since last month's issue!
- We have good news and bad news; Media Needed did see a lot more activity than last month! ...The bad news is, that's because it managed to gain a few more entries, despite a few instances of suspected drive-by templating being resolved.
- Rather sadly yet amusingly, Media Quality once again had a whole month of zero activity, one way or the other. A good few of these just ask for trims, or for alternative samples to be uploaded; if you think you can pitch in, do so!
Poll Committee Discussion
Written by: Paper Plumm (talk)
Hello Yello and welcome to Poll Committee Discussions with your host Paper Plumm! Have we got some polls for you! These are the last two of the preceding committee but if you look at the main page right now you're seeing the very first poll of our committee made by Sparks! Without further ado, here are some polls!
Poll Committee Discussion
It's been five years since the reveal of the LEGO Super Mario line of sets. What would you most like to see from the toy line in the future? (MightyMario (talk), March 15th, 2025)
| It's been five years since the reveal of the LEGO Super Mario line of sets. What would you most like to see from the toy line in the future?
|
|---|
| Minifigure-scale sets with minifigures instead of the electronic figure 27.24% (440 votes) |
| I don't play with or purchase LEGO Super Mario. 21.42% (346 votes) |
| More display sets (ex. The Mighty Bowser, Mario & Yoshi) 17.59% (284 votes) |
| Introducing another electronic character figure 8.54% (138 votes) |
| I have no opinion. 7.06% (114 votes) |
| More sets themed around a spin-off of the Mario franchise (ex. Mario Kart, Donkey Kong) 7.00% (113 votes) |
| More larger sets with interactive features (ex. Bowser's Airship, King Boo's Haunted Mansion) 6.69% (108 votes) |
| I think the current sets are fine the way they are. 2.35% (38 votes) |
| More smaller sets with a designated area represented (ex. Mario's House & Yoshi, Guarded Fortress) 2.11% (34 votes) |
| Total votes: 1,615 |
The WarioWare series often emphasizes unconventional control schemes (tilting, touchscreens, motion controls, etc.). How do you feel about this approach? (Hooded Pitohui (talk), March 31st, 2025)
| The WarioWare series often emphasizes unconventional control schemes (tilting, touchscreens, motion controls, etc.). How do you feel about this approach?
|
|---|
| I like this approach a lot and hope the WarioWare series continues with it. 43.28% (921 votes) |
| I'm a huge fan of the approach and wish other series in the Mario franchise would make more use of it. 17.25% (367 votes) |
| I have no opinion on this. 14.24% (303 votes) |
| I am okay with this approach and the level to which it is used in WarioWare. 12.31% (262 votes) |
| I am okay with this approach, but would like to see it mixed with more WarioWare games using conventional controls. 9.96% (212 votes) |
| I dislike this approach and wish WarioWare games would de-emphasize unconventional controls going forward. 2.21% (47 votes) |
| I am opposed to this approach and would like all unconventional control schemes removed from WarioWare. 0.75% (16 votes) |
| Total votes: 2,128 |
Mario Kart 11 features a new fuel mechanic, requiring racers to periodically stop and refuel during the race. What do you think of this? (Waluigi Time (talk), April 1st, 2025)
| Mario Kart 11 features a new fuel mechanic, requiring racers to periodically stop and refuel during the race. What do you think of this?
|
|---|
| I like this mechanic and think it will be a fun change to Mario Kart's usual gameplay. 31.37% (256 votes) |
| I don't like this mechanic and would prefer more traditional Mario Kart gameplay, but I still plan on buying the game. 18.75% (153 votes) |
| I like this mechanic, but I don't like the inclusion of purple coins increasing fuel efficiency. 10.78% (88 votes) |
| I don't like this mechanic at all and I will not be buying Mario Kart 11 because of it. 10.54% (86 votes) |
| I like this mechanic as a one-off gimmick, but I don't think it should return in future Mario Kart games. 10.54% (86 votes) |
| I am not interested in Mario Kart 11. 10.42% (85 votes) |
| I have not decided how I feel about this mechanic. 7.60% (62 votes) |
| Total votes: 816 |
Analysis
It's been five years since the reveal of the LEGO Super Mario line of sets. What would you most like to see from the toy line in the future?
While I am among the populace that has not played Lego Mario it has always struck me as odd that Lego Mario simply isn't just Mario themed Legos, rather it seems they are interactable electric toys with Legos serving as a backdrop rather than Legos first and foremost. While this is a unique concept that I'm sure is fun it seems me and much of the voting populace want one thing and one thing only, plain Legos!
Indeed the first and third most popular choices were of people who expressed just that, a desire for sets and characters that weren't electronic. This shows a strong desire for classic sets, rather than the new concept that Lego Mario puts out, which while unique is very alienating. This is probably a reason why the second most popular choice was that people haven't played them. And when you're one of the biggest toy brands collaborating with the biggest gaming brand and people aren't playing it? That shows a severe disconnect in what should be their target audience.
The WarioWare series often emphasizes unconventional control schemes (tilting, touchscreens, motion controls, etc.). How do you feel about this approach?
Less controversial is Wario Ware. It seems me and everyone can agree, Wario Ware wouldn't be the same without fun gimmicks. In all a staggering 2.88% of voters actively chose choices that expressed discontent with this method of gameplay and 22,27% were just ok with it. I think it's safe to say gimmicks and Wario Ware are here to stay. Hopefully the same will apply when it's cousin Rhythm Heaven fins comes out again! (Please play Rhythm Heaven, please!)
Mario Kart 11 features a new fuel mechanic, requiring racers to periodically stop and refuel during the race. What do you think of this?
Alrighty, here's a divided one. When I heard about this fuel mechanic I was definitely mixed but man did those purple coins ruin it for me. However it seems people are largely divided on this one, while more people like the gimmick it's not a clear majority, just as many are like me or are outright boycotting the game. I'm hopeful the Switch 2 direct May 2nd will change my mind! (Someone offscreen) "You know it's April 2nd right?" Wait what?! I missed the direct?! Shoot. Okay let me finish this up and then I'll watch it, Robin. Hopefully they bring back my favourite Bravely Default game, End Layer! (Offscreen Robin) "Alright that sounds good."
Conclusion
They brought back Flying Fairy, are you kidding me!? That's it, I'm protesting. Well before I do that I hope you have a lovely amount of whatever day you're reading this on. I hope you enjoy our Polltastic Polls! And as always, drive safely!
Anniversary Announcements
Written by: Lakituthequick (talk)
- “I'm stick with the image of everyone in the Awards HQ, running around as a siren wails and a missile labeled "Mario Kart World" careens straight for the bunker.”
- —Roserade (talk · Boards)
Good day, dear readers of The 'Shroom! Welcome back to Anniversary Announcements, now going for its 2025 run! How are things? Good? Great!
In that case, let's have a look at the new year and what it brings to the table!
The awards committee
This year continues the trend of having a committee which divides tasks more across a board of directors rather than a singular director and sub-director, even if those roles still exist on paper. Some roles are also taken up by other committee members, divvying up the workload a bit more.
This year's committee consists of:
- Roserade (talk · Boards) – director, Mario Awards host
- Hooded Pitohui (talk · Boards) – sub-director, Fail Awards host, community relations
- Waluigi Time (talk · Boards) – board member, community relations
- Lakituthequick (talk · Boards) – awards record keeper, meeting host
- Sparks (talk · Boards) – meeting summariser
- Zange (talk · Boards)
- Superchao (talk · Boards)
- Ninja Squid (talk · Boards)
- Fun With Despair (talk · Boards)
- Turboo (talk · Boards)
- Smasher (talk · Boards)
The easiest way to reach out to the committee is by entering the Awards Discord server. Sharing ideas is greatly appreciated!
Updates and keepers
A few things changed since last year, a few things remained the same.
Most notably, the awards ceremony falls relatively late, on Friday 22 August 2025, due to how the calendar happens to piece together this year. Notably, The 'Shroom releases one week after that still to accommodate writers and staff.
Community engagement has been a topic of discussion for a few years now. As time moves on, it is harder to retain attention in longer tournaments and games, and it becomes more tempting to host and engage in shorter events, or those with less player commitment required.
This doesn't mean larger scale games no longer happen, but hosts of such games are encouraged to host these as a non-Awards event instead.
Next, Bonus Stars are planned to return for their third year. Bonus Stars are a fun additional tidbit during the ceremony that focuses not on the main awards, but interesting things that stood out in the results, during meetings, or otherwise are fun to pay attention to. Which awards there will be and in which way they will be presented is to be decided upon later.
Next, the voting schedule of the last two years will be continued. In this schedule, the Mario and Fail awards will both have a voting window of two weeks, and the Community awards will have a window of one week starting a week after the other two categories open, while having the compensation of allowing four votes to be cast at once.
This allows for more working time after the polls close, without a major impact on the vote counts.
Also retained as an extension to the last point are the working times and amount of presentations people can pick up. When first signing up, people will not be able to sign up for more than three presentations, and back-up spots will only become available for them if they have finished the initial batch. Up to a maximum of five presentations in total can be picked up per person, to prevent people from getting into it over their heads.
The check-in process also returns, checking in with presenters on several occasions, and extensions given on a case-by-case basis as long as presenters are able to prove sufficient progress.
Tournaments
In this section of AA, I shall update you on all things tournaments, including new ones and progress in ongoing ones.
A few tournaments are potentially in the pipelines, but the season has already started with one event.
The events and games thread can be used to discuss and gauge interest for future activities. Zange (talk · Boards) is gauging interest for a song-guessing competition. Be sure to let your voice be heard if you are interested in this, or have ideas for yourself.
The awards
In this part of AA, I will describe all updates and changes to the meat and bones of the event, the awards. This includes additions, removals, and changes of both awards and nominees within.
Like last year, the number of awards is decided to be limited to 45 as a hard limit, to keep the number of needed presentations manageable. Still, the procedure of going over each award and determining whether it is worth keeping continues.
An important topic this year will be the timing of the release of the Nintendo Switch 2 and Mario Kart World on 5 June. Meetings officially wrap up one day after, on 6 June, which is not enough time to fully process material from World.
As a result, it is planned to have an extra "emergency" meeting between 5 June and 14 June, which is when polls open. Specifics will be determined when that date draws closer.
The following lists all discussed awards and notable changes and reasoning. Check out the full list for a complete overview of all additions and removals, and also check out the meeting logs and summaries for a more detailed insight in the changes.
New awards
These awards are brand new, or sometimes return from two or more years ago.
No new awards have been created yet, but are expected to be for likes of Mario Kart World.
Updated awards
Awards that existed last year and have been updated based on recent releases or with high-ranking write-in votes from last year.
The Favourite Game awards, split across three sets of generational consoles, have also been kept, but their nominees have not been discussed yet. Their names are pending a change to consider the "retro" and "classic" labels, of which the meaning varies per person.
The bins
The blue bin contains awards that may have potential left, but will only be considered to be kept to fill up necessary awards spots. The red bin contains awards that have been removed entirely.
And thus a new year of awards has started! Thanks for tuning in once again, and I hope to see you check in again next month. Buh-bye!
The 'Shroom Report
Written by: Waluigi Time (talk)
Hello there, 'Shroom readers! In the interest of keeping intros for this section interesting, I'm going to tell you a completely irrelevant fun fact. Did you know that the day this issue goes up, April 19th, is also Rice Ball Day? As we all know, depending on where you live it's localized as Jelly-Filled Donut Day. Now that I've said enough words to legally call this an intro, here's the statistics from Issue 216! Thanks as always to Meta Knight for keeping the spreadsheets maintained. Maybe I should buy him some donuts.
For new readers or anyone needing a refresher, please open the box below.
- First-Time Writers lists everyone who wrote their first section for The 'Shroom in the previous issue.
- New Sections lists recurring sections that started their run in the previous issue. This includes returning sections that previously went inactive.
- Guest Sections lists one-off submissions from the previous issue.
- Milestones covers certain section numbers reached in the previous issue. Writers are mentioned for every 10 sections written in a team and every 50 sections written overall, teams are mentioned for every 100 sections, and The 'Shroom itself is mentioned for every 500 sections.
- Most Sections Written lists the current all-time record holders.
| Writer | Section |
|---|---|
| Technetium (talk) | The 'Shroom Spotlight |
| Section | Writer |
|---|---|
| Brothership Boss Battle Guide | Sparks (talk) |
| So You Want to Romance the Three Kingdoms? | Shoey (talk) |
| Writer/Team | Milestone |
|---|---|
| ClawgripFan9001 | 40 Fake News sections |
| 50 overall sections | |
| GPM1000 (talk) | 60 Pipe Plaza sections |
| Hooded Pitohui (talk) | 70 Fake News sections |
| 140 Strategy Wing sections | |
| Shoey (talk) | 60 Strategy Wing sections |
| 450 overall sections | |
| Critic Corner | 900 sections |
| Team | Writer | Number of Sections |
|---|---|---|
| Main/Staff | Henry Tucayo Clay (talk) | 142 |
| Fake News | Waluigi Time (talk) | 156 |
| Fun Stuff | Shoey (talk) | 154 |
| Palette Swap | FunkyK38 (talk) | 206 |
| Pipe Plaza | Yoshi876 (talk) | 128 |
| Critic Corner | Hypnotoad (talk) | 204 |
| Strategy Wing | Hooded Pitohui (talk) | 142 |
| Overall | Yoshi876 (talk) | 747 |
| Luigi 1 was featured as a 'Shroom Spotlight wanted article focus in Issue 139, released in October 2018. The article wasn't created until March 17, 2025, making it the longest gap between a wanted article being featured and its creation. (Thanks to Power Flotzo for the statistic!) |
A Section of Muppetational Origins
(once again I would like to thank the Muppet Wiki for being a valuable resource of information and images!)
Hello and welcome back to a new edition of ‘’A Section of Muppetational Origins’’! This is Zange, and I am here to tell you all about the origins and history of another wonderful Muppet. Last time, we did a VERY extensive deep dive on Kermit the Frog. This month, I thought it would be good to go over one of the most recognizable and beloved Sesame Street Muppets, who has been there since the very beginning. Today we’ll be talking about everyone’s favorite devourer of cookies, Cookie Monster!
Cookie Monster’s origins come from a very interesting place: commercials for snack foods! Unfortunately, these were not commercials for the cookies he would become well-known for. The first version of the Cookie Monster puppet made an appearance in a (ultimately unaired) commercial for Wheels, Flutes, and Crowns that was filmed in 1966. These were three different snack foods produced by General Foods Canada, and featured different Muppets as the Wheel Stealer, the Flute Snatcher, and the Crown Grabber. The original puppet for Cookie Monster was featured as the Wheel Stealer, and can be seen in the commercial scarfing down Wheels in a similar manner to which he would later scarf down cookies. Notably, this version of the puppet has sharp teeth.
This initial version of the Cookie Monster puppet would also feature in a sketch titled “Coffee Break Machine”. This sketch was initially created for an episode of The Ed Sullivan Show in 1967, and was filmed again for an IBM training tape in 1968. Later on, it would be recreated a few more times using an entirely different Muppet. Thanks to the WONDERS of color television, we know from this sketch that the original Cookie Monster puppet was green instead of blue!
In early 1969, Jim Henson would make a handful of commercials promoting Munchos potato chips. These commercials would feature two Muppets: a humanoid spokesperson named Fred, and a very familiar looking monster who loved to eat Munchos. Yes, these commercials featured the next incarnation of the Cookie Monster puppet. This time, he was smaller and had purple fur, and was also named Arnold for some reason… Either way, this version of the Cookie Monster puppet was much closer to the image of the monster we all know and love today. Still has the same ‘shove snacks into mouth to make mess’ trait from the last commercial, too! This time it’s expanded upon with posters and chip bags, which doesn’t surprise me.
It’s worth noting that due to the nature of commercials and lack of clear documentation for this information in this time period, it is not entirely clear who voiced or performed either of these early Cookie Monster versions. Muppet Wiki says that the Wheel Stealer was performed by Jim Henson in the Wheels, Flutes, and Crowns commercial. While that may be true for the puppetry, I honestly think the voice sounds NOTHING like Jim. If I had to put a name to the voice, I think it sounds more like Frank Oz than anyone else. Additionally, in the two Munchos commercials I found, Arnold just seems to have a different voice in both of them which is super confusing! Perhaps the one saving grace is that you can CLEARLY tell it is Jim doing the voice of this early Cookie Monster in the Coffee Break Machine sketch…
Fast forward to November 10th, 1969: the first episode of Sesame Street airs on television. Looking at it over fifty years later, it is clear that a lot of time on this first season was spent figuring out what worked and what didn’t. This also meant that the personalities of certain characters weren’t entirely established yet. That happened to be the case with our dear Cookie Monster! At first, he was just a monster who would pop up every once in a while and would eat just about anything. There are two key moments in the first season where we see glimpses of the cookie-loving aspect of his personality, however. The first happens in one sketch from episode 11, in which we see Ernie trying to enjoy a cookie with a glass of milk. However, a familiar blue monster keeps popping up when Ernie leaves the room to drink his milk or eat his cookie. The second moment occurs in a sketch called The Mr. and Mrs. Game, first appearing in episode 72. At the end of this sketch, Guy Smiley asks the contestants to pick one of two prizes: $10,000, a new house, a new car, and a two-week vacation in Hawaii (yes, all of these things are one choice), or a cookie. The husband, having a hard time deciding, asks his wife if she would want the luxury prizes. The wife replies that it’s up to him, but “you know how you like cookies,” to which the husband yells that he wants the cookie. Here’s the kicker, though: the cookie-loving Muppet used in this sketch was actually not the Cookie Monster we know and love today. It was an entirely different Muppet known as the Beautiful Day Monster! However, according to director Jon Stone, they liked the idea of a monster who loved and would do anything for cookies so much, they took a different Muppet out of Jim Henson’s trunk and made him into the Cookie Monster. Of course, they pulled out the fuzzy blue monster who already had a knack for eating various things. The character evolved from there.
The one thing about Cookie Monster that stayed mostly consistent throughout the first season was his performer. Frank Oz performed this lovable monster in all except two of his season one appearances; Jim Henson performed Cookie Monster in a counting skit that was first seen in episode 84, while Caroll Spinney performed him in a skit about the letter C that was first seen in episode 89. Additionally, Joe Raposo provided the voice for Cookie Monster at the end of the song “Everyone Likes Ice Cream” (first seen in episode 26), while someone else (not Frank Oz, as he was performing a different character in this song) did the puppetry.
By the time season 2 of Sesame Street aired in November 1970, many aspects of the show were more aligned with what is recognizable today when one hears the name Sesame Street. Cookie Monster was fully established with his cookie-loving personality. Frank Oz continued to perform him regularly until around 2001. Interestingly enough, after Cookie Monster’s ‘look’ was established in the first season, the puppet has not received any major changes since. Most of the rebuilds were either to adjust the jaw shape, give him slightly different fur, or both on a few occasions.
I am not 100% certain when this was implemented, and in fact it may have been there since the beginning of Sesame Street, but there is a hole in the back of the mouth of the Cookie Monster puppet. Whenever he eats cookies - or anything, really - there’s a place for all the crumbs and bits to end up so it looks like he’s actually eating! Provided they don’t immediately fall out of his mouth and onto the floor, that is…
As Frank Oz became less able to devote time to performing on Sesame Street, it was decided to find new performers for his characters, selected by Oz himself. David Rudman was selected to take over for Cookie Monster, sharing the role with Oz for a bit in 2000 before fully stepping in starting in 2001. However, Oz did make a handful of return performances as Cookie Monster between 2001 and 2004. One of these was in the song “The First Time Me Eat Cookie”, in which Cookie Monster tells us of the time his mother made him some cookies when he was just a baby, and the rest is history. Interesting bit of lore in this song too, because this is the first time we learn that Cookie Monster is not this monster’s real name! As stated in the song, “Me was just a mild-mannered little kid. In fact, back then, me think me name was Sid. Yeah, yeah.” This implies that Cookie Monster is just a nickname that has stuck around for so unbelievably long that it has made him forget his real name. That’s… actually kind of sad if you think about it too much.
Starting in 2005, a rumor cropped up saying that Cookie Monster would be dropping the treats he was best known for eating, and would instead become the Veggie Monster. This rumor began thanks to a press release for season 36 of Sesame Street, which mentioned a song by the name of “A Cookie is a Sometime Food”. This sparked a massive public outrage. Additionally, during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Grover joked that Cookie Monster was going on a diet and had lost some weight, only adding fuel to the fire. During a time when obesity concerns and trying to encourage healthy eating habits were extremely common, it’s not shocking that this type of rumor would come up. However, it ultimately was NOT true. The song “A Cookie is a Sometime Food” was sung by another character to Cookie Monster, and the song ended with Cookie Monster proclaiming “NOW is sometime!” and eating a cookie anyways. This rumor has lingered ever since, and has been publicly denied in various media as recently as 2019. Despite the denials, Sesame Street did poke fun at the whole ordeal on the show a handful of times, most notably in 2012 where an entire episode storyline was dedicated to Cookie Monster trying to clear a misunderstanding after being caught eating celery (while waiting for cookies to finish baking, mind you) by Mario Lopez (as a news reporter).
This pretty much brings us to the modern day Cookie Monster. This is a Muppet that is loved across generations, whether he is performed by Frank Oz or by David Rudman, whether he is in Sesame Street or any number of modern web videos (of which this one is a personal favorite). The world is prone to changes, but if there’s one thing that will stay the same, it will be a certain fuzzy blue monster’s love for cookies. Until next time, keep believing and keep pretending!
What's in a Campaign?
Hello, and welcome back to What's in a Campaign?, a section where we look at various competitors from the hit series Robot Wars. Readers, you're in for a treat this month! In what will probably be our shortest yet perhaps grandest section, we're covering the Series 5 run of Robot Wars favorite Diotoir!
The most famous of the comedy robots in Robot Wars, Diotoir hailed from the land of Ireland. Built by Peter Redmond, Ciarán Byrne (also known as Dr. Zulu), Joe Gavin, and host Craig Charles' own son Jack Charles who lurked silently in the background, Diotoir had two main trademarks. The first was the goofy grin and large plastic eyes that adorned both Diotoir and the team's original entry, Nemesis. The other and most famous trademark was its iconic red-and-black ladybug fur which coated the robot. The fur came about when they entered their first robot, Nemesis, in Series 1. The reason they coated the robot in fur was because, when they read the rules to Series 1, they saw the rules banned flamethrowers. So, for a laugh and to make the robot stand out, they gave it the iconic Diotoir fur. Little did they know that SGT. Bash of the House Robots would be fitted with a flamethrower. Not that SGT. Bash's flamethrower seemed to matter to Diotoir, who seemed to relish the idea of catching on fire, oftentimes intentionally driving over the flame pit to set itself on fire to the delight of the crowd!
The team even, one time in Series 2, entered the arena with a shish kabobs attached to the top of Nemesis for a post-match snack! The fur was just as popular with the other roboteers as it was with the fans, and it wasn't uncommon to see other robots sporting a bit of fur they stole from the Diotoir team!
The team sporting the same fur that made Diotoir so famous themselves was just as famous as the robot itself, somewhat of a rarity in my opinion. Known jokesters, the Diotoir team was constantly coming up with different gags. Whether it be the classic "attaching something to their weapon" (like a sign that said "Panic Attack are Girlies") or adding Craig Charles' son to their team during Series 5 and Extreme 1 while never referencing the fact that they did it, they always had some new joke cooked up. Behind the scenes, the team was one of the most helpful among roboteers, winning three out of five sportsmanship awards given out during the five series. A particularly notable example occurred during the Series 3 International League Championship where the Australian team's robot, Terror Australis, broke down before their fight. Not wanting the team to have travelled this far for nothing, the Diotoir boys lent them their old robot Nemesis, allowing them to appear on TV in a proper fight! This is just one example of many of the Diotoir team helping other roboteers out backstage!
As for the combat capabilities of Diotoir, Diotoir sported a very unique weapon design. It has an off-the-ground grinning shovel lifter powered by hydraulics from two large suspension springs. I think this is the only one of its kind in the history of the show. It's a pretty effective lifter, being able to lift most regular robots, but there are weaknesses, such as the fact that it can't lift robots that are lower than the shovel. And it is not powerful enough to self-right Diotoir if they get flipped. Also, one time it fired early right at the start of the match and blew Diotoir's eyes off, which isn't really a weakness but it was funny! Powered by two 24-volt motors and running at 36-volts, Diotoir sported a very low top speed of 6 mph, but it did have a very large amount of pushing power, especially since it didn't use the full weight limit, instead weighing 93 kilograms.
As a reminder, all pictures are sourced from the fantastic Robot Wars Wiki. If you'd like to watch any of these fights, check out this video. Timestamps are provided in the section.
From the first time the team appeared, the team was so popular that Diotoir was never in danger of not qualifying for Robot Wars. In fact, despite never being seeded, Diotoir never even had to fight a qualifying battle. That's how popular Diotoir was! Placed in Heat G, Diotoir's first opponent was just a classic terrible "Series 5 round one" robot. Who was this terrible opponent? The round Dome, who I'm partially convinced was only allowed to qualify because the team wore Conehead outfits and for some reason the producers were convinced that funny costumes made for good TV! See the fact that Thunderpants qualified for Series 7 as proof! The fight (18:12), if you can call it one, goes for about, idk, four seconds.
Diotoir drives up to Dome, who is sporting something called a "pneumatic trebuchet", which as far as I can tell means it flings a static saw at its opponents, which I'm suuuure would have done max damage in Series 5. But anyways, Diotoir just casually flips it over and, despite Dome being, you know, round, it's not a rollover design so it just gets stuck on its side. WHY WOULD YOU MAKE A ROUND ROBOT THAT CAN'T LAND BACK ON ITS WHEEL, DOMEHEADS?! So, yeah, Diotoir wins its first round in about four seconds without really doing anything!
In its second round, Diotoir unfortunately is a super huge underdog as they take on the twelfth-seeded Tornado. The fight (21:13) starts with Tornado bumping and bashing into Diotoir. Diotoir attempts to lift Tornado with the shovel, but Tornado is way too fast for the spring-powered shovel and easily avoids it. Tornado then charges under the shovel of Diotoir, ramming it into the CPZ, where the high-powered flamethrower of Sgt. Bash waits. Surprisingly, Sgt. Bash doesn't set Diotoir on fire or, well, do anything, and Diotoir manages to escape right into another ram from Tornado. Tornado gets to the side of Diotoir and begins pushing it around the arena. Diotoir briefly manages to free itself from Tornado, using the momentum from its shovel to push Tornado off. But it doesn't last long and Tornado is back on the attack! Tornado pushes Diotoir into an arena wall before backing up to build up speed so it can launch another attack. The two robots meet in the middle of the ring, with Tornado repeatedly slamming into Diotoir before backing up and slamming into it again as Diotoir begins to pursue.
Tornado does this like eight times before attempting to push Diotoir from the front, but unlike a lot of robots, Diotoir manages to push Tornado back. Like I said, Diotoir has pretty good pushing power. Diotoir then repeatedly slams Tornado into the wall as Tornado desperately tries to push Diotoir. I think Diotoir uses the shovel to pin down Tornado, and then they drive them around the arena until Tornado manages to escape. Tornado decides to go back to the bump-and-run strategy, landing repeated rams on the slower Diotoir. Tornado continues to bump and bash Diotoir, looking to get to its side where pushing is easier while the veteran Diotoir makes sure to always be facing its front against Tornado.
But finally, the quicker Tornado gets to Diotoir's back, pushing it around the arena. Diotoir manages to escape and, realizing it probably isn't going to win a judges' decision, decides to hit the pit release button. And here is where the timelines diverge, so to speak. So, what happens next is one of the most famous moments in Robot Wars history, and for a long time it was remembered differently from what actually happened. Immediately after hitting the pit release button, Diotoir pushes Tornado down the pit! And in doing so it wins one of the biggest, if not the biggest, upset victories in the history of Robot Wars! That's the detail everybody remembers.
They remember Diotoir getting this huge charge to push Tornado down the pit for this massive victory, and that's technically true, but what really happened was that Tornado had actually died shortly before Diotoir hit the pit release. What happened was, while Tornado was pushing Diotoir, one of their drive sprockets failed, causing Tornado to lose drive on one side. That means Diotoir was pushing a sitting duck. But I'm not about to let facts get in the way of the fact that DIOTOIR JUST BEAT TORNADO!!!
I can't stress enough how big of an upset this is, because post-weight increase Tornado is one of the greatest robots in Robot Wars history! Not only would Tornado outright win the next series (Series 6), but in the Series 5 sister series Robot Wars: Extreme, Tornado score victories over the following robots: Chaos 2 (two wins), Stinger, Pussycat, Wild Thing, Comengetorix, and Behemoth. Tornado's only losses in Extreme are against Razer (twice), who they would defeat in both Series 6 and Extreme 2 (sort of - long story, but Razer forfeits because they thought the judges were wrong), and a freak loss against The Steel Avenger in an Annihilator qualifier after King B3 Powerworks killed Tornado with a mighty charge. Guys, the only time Tornado failed to make the Top 8 of a series was by losing to Diotoir! DIOTOIR!
This would put Diotoir miraculously into the Heat Final, just one win away from a shocking Semi-Final appearance! In the Heat Final, Diotoir's opponent is the number 13 seed Spawn Again! This is a very interesting fight for the Diotoir, boys, because, on one hand, Spawn Again is a flipper and Diotoir can't self-right. But on the other hand, it's Spawn Again. It will break down if you give it long enough! Unfortunately, Diotoir is not able to last long enough… or really long at all. The fight starts (and basically ends) at 26:35. Spawn Again charges at Diotoir and, with a single flip, flips Diotoir on its back!
Diotoir tries to self-right, which, like, you know your robot can't self-right, so what are you doing? All that does is cause Diotoir's eyeballs to explode off, so you know what? Worth it! To make matters even worse for Diotoir, the Diotoir team and the Spawn Again team had a gentleman's agreement where the winner would pit the loser so the loser would avoid taking damage from the House Robots… and Spawn Again breaks down while trying to pit Diotoir! Come on Spawn Again, ya bastard, you couldn't have broken down like 20 seconds earlier to let Diotoir go through??? Sadly, our story ends with Diotoir falling to Spawn Again in the Heat Final, much to my sadness.
This a high mark for Diotoir. Not only do they make the Heat Final in Series 5, but in the sister series Extreme, they not only win the Robot Wars: Tag Team Terror (which I already covered in issue 178) with partners Mega Morg (and Pussycat, who replaced Mega Morg after round one), but Diotoir does almost all the work! That's right! Diotoir single-handedly wins the final by bodying The Steel Avenger while their partner got dominated by Suicidal Tendencies. They even got revenge on Spawn Again by beating them in the second round of the Tag Team Terror! Or Spawn Again got revenge on Diotoir depending on how the episodes were filmed because both Series were filmed at the same time!
Unfortunately, this would be the last time Diotoir would ever appear in a main series. The team, burnt out from robot stuff, decided to skip Series 6, and then because of the Series 7 channel hop from BBC to Channel 5, Diotoir lost their sponsorship because Channel 5 wasn't available in Ireland. As a result, Diotoir was unable to appear for Series 7. The last appearance Diotoir would have in the classic series would be in the Extreme 2 Tag Team Terror, where Diotoir, sporting a strange crusher/lifter weapon, would fail to defend its Tag Team Terror title with Pussycat. Diotoir would legally make a surprise appearance in Series 10 during the World Championship tournament, but while the team reappeared, the robot itself was just a redecorated Kadeena Machina. But it was still fun to see the team again and it would result in one of the few (maybe only) times the reboot ever showed footage of a classic series robot. Ironically enough, the footage they used? This heat!
I love Diotoir. They're kind of the perfect comedy robot. Unlike most comedy robots like Mega Morg, Sir Chromalot, and later the Plunderbird machines, Diotoir is actually a legitimate threat. Diotoir actually has a really solid résumé, with two Heat Final appearances, runner-up status in both the Series 3 International League Championship and Series 4 Celebrity Special, a top four finish in the Series 3 World Championship, and a legit tournament victory in the Extreme 1: Tag Team Terror.
I've always kind of pushed back on Diotoir as a "comedy" robot because, to me, comedy robots are usually sub-par robots that get by on being funny or having a funny team. But Diotoir is a really good machine. Like, yeah, it wasn't championship level, and, yes, as much as I love Diotoir and wish it would have beaten Spawn Again and made the Semi-Final, I can admit Diotoir would have done nothing in that Semi-Final. But that's not the point! Diotoir was a solid machine with a great design – and that helped make it one of the most popular robots in the history of the show. From the interviews to the recurrence of setting themselves on fire, Diotoir was one of the most well-known robots in the show's history. When the guys who run the Robot Wars Wiki did their Top 100 icons list, Diotoir placed 8th! Which, yeah, honestly not only do I think that spot is completely justified, I think if anything they could have gone higher. I think they could be as high as fifth and nobody would bat an eye. That's how just loved the Diotoir robot was by everybody who watched Robot Wars, including me!
That's all on this beloved bot. Come back next month as I discuss another robot!
| The 'Shroom: Issue 217 | |
|---|---|
| Staff sections | Staff Notes • The 'Shroom Spotlight • Poochy's Picks • 'Shroomfest • Credits |
| Features | Fake News • Fun Stuff • Palette Swap • Pipe Plaza • Critic Corner • Strategy Wing |
