The 'Shroom:Issue 207/Pipe Plaza

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Director's Notes

Written by: Zange (talk)

Shroom2019 Zange.png

We're keeping this note short and sweet this month because 1. this week has been absolutely awful for me, and 2. I have a nasty headache right now. Sorry if you like reading my little life updates...

Anyways, we've got some awesome and cool stuff for you to read in Pipe Plaza like always! And remember that you, too, can contribute to the awesomeness here or any other team! Just go to the sign up page to learn more.

I hope everyone's month gets better, no matter how good or bad it's been for you so far.

Section of the Month

Congratulations to this month's winners! In first place, we have Shoey (talk)! In a three-way tie for second place, we have Lakituthequick (talk), Natalie J., and GPM1000 (talk)! Thank you to everyone who votes for their favorite sections as well.

PIPE PLAZA SECTION OF THE MONTH
Place Section Votes % Writer
1st What's in a Campaign? 5 41.67% Shoey (talk)
2nd Anniversary Announcements 2 16.67% Lakituthequick (talk)
2nd Poll Committee Discussion 2 16.67% Natalie J.
2nd Mario Calendar 2 16.67% GPM1000 (talk)
News and information
Mario Calendar
GPM1000 (talk)
Find out all about this month's Super Mario releases.
read more
Poll Committee Discussion
Hooded Pitohui (talk)
The best analysis of the polls around!
read more
Anniversary Announcements
Lakituthequick (talk)
The ongoings of the Mario Awards.
read more
Archie Sonic Comic Shoebox
Shoey (talk)
Look how they massacred my boy...
read more
The 'Shroom Report
Waluigi Time (talk)
All the latest writers and all the milestones of the current ones.
read more
What's in a Campaign?
Shoey (talk)
Come to the Darke side, we have robots.
read more

Mario Calendar

Written by: GPM1000 (talk)

Hello everyone and happy Pride Month!! I hope everyone's month has been going great so far, and I can't wait to get into this month's Mario Calendar! However, I firstly want to thank the Awards Committee for nominating me for Favorite Active 'Shroom Writer this year in the Community Awards! It's always been such an honor to write for this amazing community, and I can't wait to celebrate whoever wins that award and all the others. Anyways, let's get into Mario Calendar!

Region Abbreviations

Abb. Region
ALL All Regions (JP/NA/EU/AU)
JP Japan
NA North America
EU Europe
AU Oceania/Australia
SK South Korea
CHN China
UK United Kingdom

Console Abbreviations

Abb. Console
NES Nintendo Entertainment System
Famicom Family Computer Disk System
SNES Super Nintendo Entertainment System
N64 Nintendo 64
GC Nintendo GameCube
GB Game Boy
GBC Game Boy Color
GBA Game Boy Advance
DS Nintendo DS
3DS Nintendo 3DS
Switch Nintendo Switch
Wii VC Nintendo Wii Virtual Console
3DS VC Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console
Wii U VC Nintendo Wii U Virtual Console
VB Virtual Boy
G&W Game and Watch
64DD Nintendo 64 Disk Drive
MS-DOS Microsoft Disk Operating System
CD-i Philips CD-i
IQ iQue Player
NVS Nvidia Shield
ACPC Amstrad CPC
ZX ZX Spectrum
Coleco Colecovision
TI-99 Texas Instruments TI-99/4A

I don't have a lot to say about this month that hasn't been said before (by me because, let's be honest, nobody else is this invested in this). Super solid month overall, and the month that originated Super Mario 64 has to get some massive credit in my book. Other than that, it's not a super interesting month, but it's pretty good overall.

However, I just want to point out that there's a game coming out this month on the 27th! I had no idea this was a thing until I was looking through the list of games for this month: Luigi's Mansion 2 HD is coming out in just a few days! I've honestly never played a Luigi's Mansion game, as they've never particularly appealed to me. I'd like to say that this is an excuse to try one out, but I know myself too well to expect myself to buy it. But, should I give one of the games a shot?

Finally, I just want to talk a little bit about myself and my 'Shroom activity for a second. I talked about my nomination for the aforementioned award in the beginning of this section, and it has made me think about what I can do to contribute to the 'Shroom at a higher degree. I'm playing around with the idea of applying for a second section each month, and am trying to brainstorm some good ideas. Additionally, I'm trying to think of ways to make the Mario Calendar a fresher experience each month, so that it doesn't get repetitive - let me know if you have any suggestions regarding that. Either way, I hope you enjoyed the article, and I'll see you next month!

Poll Committee Discussion

Written by: Hooded Pitohui (talk)

Hello there, all you readers of The 'Shroom! Did you think I'd be absent from Pipe Plaza entirely just because I didn't write about Super Mario Sunshine NPCs this month? Well, if so, your assumption was incorrect! There's little in the way of news out of the Poll Committee this month. Our business goes on as usual there. In the spirit of keeping business going as usual, let's get right into the poll analysis!

Archives

Which 3D Mario game would you most like to see a sequel to? (Natalie J., May 25th, 2024)

Which 3D Mario game would you most like to see a sequel to?

Super Mario Odyssey 34.97% (1,435 votes)
Super Mario Galaxy/Super Mario Galaxy 2 21.66% (889 votes)
Super Mario Sunshine 13.28% (545 votes)
Super Mario 64 9.43% (387 votes)
Super Mario 3D Land/Super Mario 3D World 6.7% (275 votes)
Bowser's Fury 6.36% (261 votes)
I would not like a sequel to any of these. 3.85% (158 votes)
I have no opinion. 3.75% (154 votes)
Total Votes: 4,104

Of Nintendo's home consoles, which had the overall best selection and quality of Mario games? (Hooded Pitohui (talk), May 11th, 2024)

Of Nintendo's home consoles, which had the overall best selection and quality of Mario games?

Switch 45.00% (1,425 votes)
Wii 20.78% (658 votes)
GameCube 17.05% (540 votes)
Nintendo 64 5.46% (173 votes)
SNES 5.24% (166 votes)
Wii U 3.69% (117 votes)
NES 2.78% (88 votes)
Total Votes: 3,167

Analysis

Which 3D Mario game would you most like to see a sequel to?

Finally, the perfect data-driven Mario game

First up this month, we have a straightforward poll from Natalie J., asking which of the 3D Super Mario platformers wiki visitors would most like to see get a sequel. Super Mario Odyssey is the clear favorite here, which isn't too surprising. It was the most recent headliner 3D Mario, after all, with Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury being a port and a sidemode. It also made it into the hands of many more players than its competitors here. According to VGChartz, Odyssey sold over 27 million copies, while Super Mario Galaxy, on a console with a not-so-distant install base, sold 12.8 million. Needless to say, Odyssey is popular and its familiar for a lot of folks. Given that, it's not too surprising that there are hopes for a sequel that can build on its formula and recapture its magic.

A few of the users on our forum expressed an interest in an Odyssey sequel, too, but what caught my eye was that they tended to mention the Galaxy duology as a close second choice. As you can see, the poll results mirror that line of thought, with the Galaxy games taking a firm second place. I get why. Not only did Galaxy also make its way to a lot of players and garner praise from critics, but it was pretty inventive with its mechanics and set design. I'm not the only one to draw attention to its setting and mechanics, either, with at least one forum user bringing up the gravity mechanic and the "stunning atmosphere". Another Galaxy voter mentioned that, for all the enjoyment Odyssey has on offer, it's also has some rough edges like overly-easy Power Moons and swathes of empty space. This caught my eye because I have some gripes with Odyssey's use of space myself (perhaps I'll write a Critic Corner section on it someday...), which likewise makes me a little hesitant about seeing a sequel with the same approach to its level design. Perhaps there were other would-be Odyssey voters who instead with went Galaxy due to the game's rough edges?

On the other side of the coin, Sunshine voters pointed to that game's rough edges as a reason it should be revisited. To see Sunshine in third place was unexpected, given that it was one of the worst-selling 3D Mario games, just barely avoiding the dubious honor of being at the bottom of the list by edging out the original Super Mario 3D World. These comments about a sequel polishing its concepts up and smoothing out its lows give that placement some helpful context, and, frankly, I agree with the sentiment. I do think a game with some strong concepts and a few glaring points of weakness deserves a sequel so it can buff out the rough patches and let its core strengths shine. Sunshine has a great atmosphere, level designs that pack something to do (or at least something to do some fun platforming off of) everywhere, enjoyable NPCs, and satisfying movement (when the collision detection isn't wonky, at least). I'd like to see what that design philosophy could do if not held back by rushed development, glitchy physics, and far too many Blue Coins and Red Coins.

Rounding things out, it looks like the popularity of Super Mario 64 continues to endure, though perhaps it's starting to fade from the mind of players these days, given its low placement. Super Mario 3D Land and Super Mario 3D World placing as low as they did is little surprise. The general consensus on those games seems to be that they're great, but not as groundbreaking as the proper sandbox exploration 3D Mario titles. Bowser's Fury taking the bottom spot does seem a little strange to me. I thought it felt like a test run for a new approach to a 3D Mario, so I suspected people would express more interest in seeing a full game in its style, but, well, perhaps being relegated to a sidemode in a port and competing against console-defining titles puts it at a bit of a disadvantage.

As for the folks who didn't want a sequel to any of these, I'd be interested in hearing why! Nobody expressed support for that option on the forum, so I don't have anything to go off of. Speculating a bit here, perhaps the voters who chose this option would prefer an entirely new approach to 3D Mario? If so, I mean, history is on their side here! Nintendo does like to surprise players with new innovations between big marquee 3D Mario games, so if they're looking for novelty, there's a good chance they'll get it when the Switch 2 comes along!

Of Nintendo's home consoles, which had the overall best selection and quality of Mario games?

A collage of Nintendo consoles
GameCube, my beloved...

With the Switch nearing the end of its time as the console in the spotlight, it seemed as good a time as any to look back at the various Mario games across Nintendo's various home consoles. Being that the Switch is still at center stage and has had a whopping seven years to its life, it's little surprise that it dominated this poll. I mean, it's fresh in the minds of voters and it has a vast selection of Mario games. Almost every major sports spinoff series is represented, there's a fresh Mario Party and another that brings back classic boards and minigames, every 3D Mario except 3D Land and Galaxy 2 can technically be obtained for it, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has a massive number of tracks both new and old, and it now has Origami King's soundtrack and the widely-praised The Thousand-Year Door. I mean, it's a veritable smorgasbord of Mario on the Switch!

Variety seems to be a key factor in this poll, considering the Wii and GameCube follow up the Switch and there were plenty of Mario spinoffs in their time. That was another era where sports games were releasing hot and heavy, Paper Mario was filling the console RPG niche, two popular Mario Kart games were going strong, and other oddball Mario or Mario-adjacent titles like the original Luigi's Mansion kept Mario front and center between the big platformer releases. Breadth of titles seems to be the decisive factor in pushing a console to the top, with perceptions of the depth of those titles subsequently informing which of the top three consoles voters went with.

Ooooor, perhaps the simpler explanation is that nostalgia is a driving factor here. After all, each hovering around the 20 year mark, the Wii and the GameCube are the consoles young adults are picturing when reminiscing on the carefree days of their youth. It could very well a little of both breadth of titles and nostalgia at play!

I'm amused to see the Wii U beat out the NES, but, then, for all of its struggles as a commercial console, the Wii U did have some great Mario games. Meanwhile, the NES has Super Mario Bros. 3 and, uh... Um. Erm. Jokes aside, the NES does have a variety of Mario games, but outside of SMB3, a lot of them feel slippery and difficult by today's standards, so I get why they aren't that popular. By the time of the SNES, Mario games felt a bit more precise and forgiving. With classics like Super Mario World and Yoshi's Island (and a lot of Wii U titles getting Switch ports), I can understand how the SNES beat out the Wii U even with few notable spinoffs to its name.

Who knows, maybe in thirteen years we'll see the Switch's successor's successor's taking the top spot and the Switch in a nostalgia-fueled second! Only time will tell!

Conclusion

Ah, that was a lot of words, wasn't it? Well, I suppose I should try and keep this outro short to make up for it! If there is anything to take away from the polls this month, it's that people like the Switch and its games. Yeah, I'm sure Nintendo's bank accounts could tell you that, too. That's all from me.

Drop by next month, and our Chairperson MightyMario (talk) will have a TTYD poll for the TTYD special issue!

Anniversary Announcements

Written by: Lakituthequick (talk)

“Glad I could ruin the thing so we could end up with the thing un-ruined.”
—Hooded Pitohui (talk · Boards)

Hello again and welcome to Anniversary Announcements! Let's jump right in, shall we?

Updates

Indeed, it is that time of the year again. The polls have opened! Be sure to go to the anniversary page and cast your votes for the Mario and Fail Awards! You can vote once a week, so if you voted last week, you can do so again in the coming week.

Additionally, with the release of this issue, the polls for the Community Awards have also opened! Check out the awards dossier here and cast your votes. You can only vote once in these, but you can select up to four nominees on each poll.

Tournaments

In this section of AA, I shall update you on all things tournaments, including new ones and progress in ongoing ones.

Archipelago Multi-World Randomizer Event
A tournament in which a variety of games is randomised together based on the games the participants own. When started, items from one player's game will end up in another's, meaning that a degree of collaboration is necessary.
Players have shared around their configurations and the game is set to begin soon.
Picture Pilgrimage
Based on the Scribble series of tournaments from the past years, people take turns to draw a part of a greater drawing while retaining the colour limit of three (black, white, and one colour). Instead of a time limit of four hours, however, each player has three days and takes turns to complete the image, receiving 20% of the previous scribbler's drawing.
This event is not a tournament, but a collaboration project. The final product will be unveiled when everyone has taken their turns.

The tournaments discussion thread also has a few folks gauging interest. Waluigi Time (talk · Boards) is gauging interest for an artifact hunt, while Roserade (talk · Boards) is looking out for Panel de Pon. Additionally, Mighty Mario (talk · Boards) is gauging interest for a round-robin style roleplay. Be sure to let your voice be heard if you are interested in any of these.

The awards

A screenshot of a meme posted on Discord. Waluigi Time, saying "we are de-supering mario", is replied to by Flygon with an image of Bowser with a speech bubble pointing at the citation.

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.

Due to the large amount of awards and nominees, and the availability of a complete overview document, I will keep the list of awards and changes concise starting this year instead of listing every minute detail. Check out the full list for all additions and removals, and also check out the meeting logs and summaries for a more detailed insight in the changes.

Since last month, the Community Awards have been completed. The awards haven't been shuffled around as much, but there are still a few interesting updates to keep them fresh.

New awards

These awards are brand new, or sometimes return from two or more years ago.

C7. Favorite Issue 200 Guest Section (new)
A one-off for this year to celebrate the 200th issue of the paper, this award covers guest sections that were included as part of one of the main six teams.
C8. Favorite Issue 200 Special Feature (new)
A one-off for this year to celebrate the 200th issue of the paper, this award covers special sections that were included as standalone articles.

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.

C1. Favorite Active 'Shroom Writer
This award has been updated with writers of the past year by use of nominations and a poll.
C2. Favorite 'Shroom Section Design
This award has also been updated by use of a poll.
C3. Favorite Written 'Shroom Section of the Past Year
A poll was run for this award as well, which didn't result in any removals outside the ones that did not qualify any more and ones removed by request.
C4. Favorite Retired 'Shroom Section
This award was updated by allowing committee members to nominate sections, and dropping lower-placing results from last year.
C5. Favorite 'Shroom Team
No updates were necessary for this award.
C6. Favorite 'Shroom Special Issue
The oldest two issues were unlisted in favour of the ones from the past year.
C9. Favorite Artist
This award was updated by nominations and a poll.
C10. Favorite 2023 Awards Presentation
A new list of presentations was selected by nomination.
C11. Favorite BJAODN Entry
This award was updated by committee members and wiki staff to nominating new items, and dropping lower-placing results from last year to make space for these.
C12. Favorite Wiki April Fool's Event
This year's April Fool's event was added to the list.
C13. Favorite Community Character (merged)
Due to a lack of events and games lately, there has been a reduction in the amount of new eligible characters in the past year for last year's Favorite Community Character and Favorite Character Portrayal, so these were merged into this one award. The new nominees were selected by nomination and poll.
C14. Favorite Community Event 2023-2024
A new list of events from the past year has been compiled for this award.
C15. Outstanding Community Achievement Award
This award requires that a new list is generated from scratch with arguments for each nominated person, and with that method the list of nominees as updated.

Thank you for reading! Don't forget to vote in the polls, and I'll see you next month. I appreciate you.

Archie Sonic Comic Shoebox

Written by: Shoey (talk)

Hello, and welcome back to Archie Sonic Comic Shoebox, a section where I go through various storylines of the absolutely bonkers Archie Sonic comic book. Oh readers, you're in for a treat today, because this month we're going to be looking at what is truly one of Sonic's most "what the fuck are we doing?" storylines. More specifically, we're looking at what I like to call That Time Ian Flynn Gave Charmy the Bee Brain Damage.

So you all know Charmy the Bee, right? Yeah, Charmy the Bee, everyone's 9th favorite Sonic character. One of Sonic's many dipshit friends, Charmy the Bee has been a staple of the series since the mid-2000s after returning in Sonic Heroes. He's a member of Team Chaotix, a group of detectives or something; I don't know because I don't play a lot of Sonic games. I only know he hangs out with other classic "good" Sonic characters like Vector the Crocodile and Espio the Chameleon. Importantly, Charmy the Bee is one of the youngest characters in the games, being only six years old. But Charmy the Bee was not originally six years old, at least not in the States! Originally, reading Knuckles Chaotix's English manual, you'll find that Charmy the Bee is stated to be 16 years old! Now, this is important to our story, because Charmy the Bee played a recurring role in the comic before he returned in Sonic Heroes. During that time, all that the writers had to go on for Charmy was the original manual. As a result, in the comics, Charmy the Bee is 16 (and a prince for some reason, but we'll get to that).

Charmy the Bee, Prince and Heir of the Golden Hive Colony

Now, you might not think this a problem, but Sega did! You see, in the early days of the comic, the writers were kind of allowed to do whatever. There were certain guidelines, but, for the most part, Sega didn't care. I mean, all the main game characters have like parents and stuff, which would never fly today! But by the mid-2000s, Sega realized the Sonic brand had taken a few hits, so they decided that what they needed to do was to tighten things up. Now you might be wondering "wait, weren't all those hits directly related to Sega's inability to make good 3D Sonic games after like 2002?". You might even be thinking "so wouldn't Sega getting tighter on creative control be a bad thing?". Those are fair thoughts, but, well, two things. First, you forgot about Sonic Underground. That example wasn't really Sega's fault; that was a bad licensing contract which allowed for DIC to squeeze out one more cartoon to try to maximize Sonic profits. Now, on the second thing, you have a point. The worst thing that could have happened to Sonic was Sega being more involved in it! A lesson that has been proven time and time again over the last 20 years!

Regardless, this presented certain problems for Ian Flynn, because Sega mandated that characters needed to be closer to their videogame counterparts. What this means for our purposes is that Charmy the Bee, who had been established as a 16-year old with his own personality and a fiancé from the Golden Hive Colony, needed to be turned into a hyperactive 6-year old like his videogame counterpart. This would be a difficult situation for even the best of writers, but don't worry! Ian Flynn solves this problem with all the grace and subtleness you'd come to expect from a comic book about a hedgehog who runs fast and eats chili dogs!

Our story begins in issue 174, with the classic pairing the spares marriage of Antoine D'Coolette and Bunnie Rabbot. No joke, they actually make a really cute couple and they're two of my favorite characters.

Look how cute they are!

While this jubilant marriage is happening, however, Espio the Chamelon is on some sort of secret mission, a mission which he totally fails at! He gets captured by a returning Dr. Eggman after learning about the evil doctor's most horrifying plan yet! That plan? To launch a surprise attack on Knothole with the Egg Fleet! Distracted by the festivities and playing videogames after the wedding (by the way, they're totally playing a Gamecube! That kicks ass! I wonder what they're playing.), the heroes will be totally caught by surprise!

Despite Knuckles being like "hey guys, Espio has been gone a long time and I'm starting to get worried," the other celebrating heroes just dismiss him. Unfortunately, they should not have dismissed him, because an entire Egg Fleet arrives! And, like, I admit I don't read these in order when I write this section, but, like, why are they getting caught so flat-footed? I know there was a wedding, but, like, they know Dr. Eggman exists? I think it's supposed to be that Dr. Eggman jammed Nicole (the AI that protects Knothole), thus preventing her from alerting everyone until it was too late, but, like, come on! Post some guards! Put up a sentry! Don't rely on a single computer for all your defense!

Anyways, the people of Knothole get obliterated in this fight! It might be one of the most one-sided fights that involves characters that actually matter and not just random woodland creatures in some village that's never been mentioned before.

Charmy the Bee and Saffron captured with the rest.

Before the Freedom Fighters even know what has hit them, almost all of them have been captured by Snively and his tractor beam-firing robot. It's actually like the perfect plan, lol, but Snively makes but one mistake… He captures my main man Mighty the Armadillo's friend Ray the Flying Squirrel before he captures Mighty the Armadillo. Mighty the Armadillo, thinking his best friend is dead, enters his berserker mode, a mode I'm pretty sure he got from the magic of Mammoth Mogul. But we don't have time for that sick-ass backstory!

Mighty the Armadillo fighting back - UNLIKE EVERYONE ELSE!

Anyways, Mighty the Armadillo briefly takes it to Snively, ripping off one of the robot's arms before finding himself captured. But this distraction does two things! The first is that it prevents Snively from capturing Knuckles, Tails, or Amy - you know, the characters that matter, The second is that it causes Snively the lose track of who is captured, causing him to flee since his part of the job is done!

Sonic gives chase and finds himself staring through the wrecked kingdom that is Knothole before coming face to face with Dr. Eggman and his new battle mech. This fight is actually really, really good. First off, Sonic is pissed because he thinks Dr. Eggman has killed all of his friends, but Dr. Eggman informs Sonic that his friends are alive and are instead headed for the Egg Grapes (IT'S ALMOST TIME FOR THE GODDAMN EGG GRAPES). There's a great few pages of Sonic and Dr. Eggman just trading the times they've foiled each other back and forth. We get everything from Sonic's friend Tommy Turtle blowing up the Egg Fleet to Dr. Eggman pointing out that Sonic's own family members are still robots. Dr. Eggman tells Sonic that he's basically been fighting with one hand behind his back, saying that the only reason he's let the Freedom Fighters live this long is because his original world fell so quickly he needed some sort of entertainment. He concedes that, while the Freedom Fighters might have won some minor victories here and there, the fact is that Mobius is no freer than it was before they started resisting.

Dr. Eggman spitting facts

He points out that when King Maxamillian called for aid, nobody came because, quite simply, nobody thought Dr. Eggman could be defeated. He says that, for all of Sonic's efforts, not only is like 90% of the planet under his control, but all of Sonic's friends have been captured. Finally, he lets Sonic know that he's done playing around, that the robot he's using was built using all of his years of research on Sonic, that, quite frankly, Sonic can't win.

THAT'S RIGHT, GUYS! DR. EGGMAN BUILT A SONIC-PROOF ROBOT! Something he has just always been able to do, I guess! Enraged over all of this, Sonic defiantly declares that he has not yet begun to hit his limit before taking off. Dr. Eggman commands Snively to track Sonic's movements, with Snively telling him that Sonic is running much faster than Dr. Eggman thought was possible that Sonic is already at the East Coast.

I don't even like Sonic, but this is pretty badass.

With his head of steam built, Sonic charges at Dr. Eggman, defying all predictions and crashing into Dr. Eggman's robot far faster than the doctor ever thought possible, sending the robot flying! Except… it doesn't matter. It turns out that Dr. Eggman's Sonic-proof robot really is Sonic-proof. All Sonic manages to do is dent Dr. Eggman's shield a little bit. Dr. Eggman, with a mighty strike, then strikes down the defeated hedgehog.

I'll never get over the fact that this robot is Sonic-proof!

Then Eggman tells Sonic that he's not going to kill him; hell, he's not going to even capture him. Instead, he's going to leave Sonic here with the knowledge that he failed, with the knowledge that his friends are going to be turned into fuel for Dr. Eggman's city. He's going to make Sonic live with the humiliation and the knowledge that he could have never beaten Dr. Eggman.

Now, at this point, you might be wondering "what the hell does any of this have to do with Charmy the Bee"? Well, I'm glad you asked! It's finally time, guys!

In the next issue (176), Sonic and his friends who escaped (Amy, Tails, and Knuckles) decide to storm Dr. Eggman's base and rescue their friends… Yeah, who cares about them? While this is happening, it's revealed that all of Sonic's friends have been trapped in the Egg Grapes. That means that, guys, it's finally time! It's time for something I've been looking forward to since I decided to write about this comic book. We need to talk about the Egg Grapes!

So what are the Egg Grapes, you ask? The Egg Grapes are the most fucked-up thing in this comic, and I'm pretty convinced that the Egg Grapes are the most horrifying thing any version of Eggman has done in the history of Sonic. The Egg Grapes essentially act as both a power source for Dr. Eggman's machines and a prison for his enemies. Upon a victim being locked in an Egg Grape, the energy is drained from the unlucky victim and used to power Dr. Eggman's Egg Fleet. It works in a three-step program. The first step is Mind Erasure, which, as the name suggests, erases the memories of the Mobian trapped in the Egg Grape. Dr. Eggman claims that the lifeless bodies of the Mobians act as sort of a filter for the energy transfer, so I would assume that's why the Mind Erasure stage exists. Next is the Toxin Infiltration, which, while never fully explained, I would presume is done so that the Mobians can't resist at all. Finally, the energy is drained from them. Based on both Dr. Eggman's saying that he loves looking at their hopeless faces while describing what's happening to them as torture and the fact that every character trapped in an Egg Grape whose face we sees has a horrified and pained expression, we can presume that the process of this happening is extremely painful and that the Mobians can feel the process happening to them at all times!

What kind of a fucked-up world is this?

The most fucked-up thing about all this is that even Dr. Eggman admits that this isn't even the most efficient way to power his machines, telling his robot daughter Mecha (we'll cover her someday…) that he could probably build a more efficient source of energy. Even as he admits this, he asks where the fun would be in that approach? This confirms that, yes, this whole torturous process is entirely in place to satisfy Dr. Eggman's sadism! I just think this whole concept is just beyond bonkers. Like, you're telling me that in the comic book about the hedgehog who runs fast, there's a nightmare fuel contraption that's basically summed up as "hey what if you died the most agonizing way possible?" mixed with a dash of "cool. I'm gonna throw a bunch of funny animals into it"? It just boggles the mind that this is a real concept that really appears in this children's comic book!

Anyways, back to our topic at hand! Dr. Eggman has what he thinks are all of Sonic's friends trapped in the Egg Grapes. Because he's a fucking psychopath, Dr. Eggman decides to demonstrate what's going to happen to all of Sonic's friends by selecting one of them and putting them through an accelerated process just so that all of Sonic's friends can see the hell that awaits them! Noticing Charmy the Bee, Dr. Eggman selects him before mocking him over the fact that he's already ruined his life by destroying his kingdom or something. Look, man, when you ruin as many lives as Dr. Eggman does, it's hard to keep track of what you've done to who. Defiant, Charmy the Bee declares that he'll keep fighting Dr. Eggman. That's pretty bold coming from somebody that put up exactly 0 resistance before being captured and who is currently locked in an Egg Grape!

A defiant Charmy the Bee selected to be Egg Graped.

Sonic and his remaining friends break into the chamber, but they're too late. Dr. Eggman and Snively have already activated the pod. While they manage to free Charmy, it's too late, and Charmy the Bee is unconscious with Dr. Quack saying he doesn't think it looks good.

Oh, as an aside just to put a bow on this whole Sonic-proof robot thing, here's what happens when everyone is freed from the Egg Grapes. Tails hacks Eggman's system. Sonic allows everybody to be recaptured. The tractor beams have been reprogrammed, so they take everyone to a new city that Nicole has apparently built just offscreen! Eggman is pissed! He pursues them to the new city, but Sonic's friends beat him because its turns out the Sonic-proof robot is only Sonic-proof, not Sonic's dipshit friends-proof. But don't worry! Despite the fact that they've got Dr. Eggman beaten, that he's basically unarmed, and that they've proven Nicole can blow up the Egg Fleet, they do not capture Dr. Eggman! Nope, instead, they let him go so he can terrorize the world and kill more people!

DON'T JUST LET HIM GO, YOU IDIOTS!

Everyone has been freed from the Egg Grapes, and, in the new city, Charmy the Bee wakes up, but something is different about him. Dr. Quack flashes some fingers at Charmy and asks him how many fingers he's holding up, to which Charmy The Bee says "one two, buckle my shoe". Charmy then turns to a concerned Saffron, telling her that his daddy says he'll be King someday. It becomes clear that Charmy the Bee has serious memory loss, not even remembering that the Golden Hive Colony is gone and that his family is dead!

The aftermath of the Egg Grape Chamber

With this memory loss, Charmy the Bee also undergoes a personality shift, becoming a more childlike character since he's supposed to be only six years old now. I find this very odd, because I think this is supposed to be, like, a funny thing? They kind of treat it as a joke? They definitely give Charmy the Bee the classic idiot comic relief cross-eyes, which is super weird if you ask me!

Unsurprisingly, this whole thing leaves Charmy the Bee in a very awkward spot in terms of usage. The problem is that Charmy the, according to my understanding, is kind of a comic relief character in the games. That works fine there because he's a six-year-old child who acts like a six-year-old. The problem is that it doesn't really translate well to the comic book, because he's not a six-year-old. He's a sixteen-year-old who is suffering from severe brain damage and memory loss. You can't really do comedy with him, because, canonically speaking, he's got brain damage, so you can't have the characters treat him like comic relief, because they all know what Charmy was like pre-brain damage. At the same time, you can't really do serious storylines, because you have to use the games' Charmy the Bee personality, which means he has to act like a child. But in order to have him act like a child, you had to give him brain damage because he was originally ten years older than his games counterpart. It basically renders truly using Charmy the Bee impossible, because you're never able to escape the canonical fact that Charmy the Bee has brain damage.

A good example of the awkwardness trying to use Charmy the Bee post-brain damage.

You can't use him for his intended purpose because then it turns into "let's laugh at the guy with brain damage," and you can't use him in more serious roles because he has to have the personality he does in the games, meaning he's more suited for comedy. Basically, in order to reconcile the Charmy the Bee of the comics with the Charmy the Bee of the games, Ian Flynn ended up boxing himself into a corner where he really couldn't use Charmy the Bee anymore. Obviously Charmy the Bee would stick around and still do stuff, but he's never really the focal point of storylines and mostly appears as a side character during Chaotix-themed chapters.

It's all very weird and awkwardly-handled, but I'm actually to defend Ian Flynn a little bit here. I really think he was in a very tough spot. He needed to reconcile the two portrayals of Charmy, which essentially meant he needed radically change the Charmy the Bee of the comic.

This is sort of what happened much earlier to Amy Rose when she needed to be aged up from 11 to 17, but that was easy. I mean, TV shows do it all the time. While I found the way they did it kind of clunky, with her being aged up via a magic wish, it was still pretty easy to come up with a solution.

With Charmy, though, what were the alternatives? Dr. Eggman using some sort of de-aging ray? I mean, I guess that would have worked, but honestly why would Dr. Eggman build one of those in the first place? Ian Flynn was stuck between a rock and hard place due to Sega's changing standards and the higher restrictions being placed on the comic. I don't think he had very many good options. While I don't think he chose right (obviously giving a character brain damage wasn't a good decision, I can still acknowledge he didn't have a lot of options at his disposal.

That's all for this month. Join me again in two months when we take a look at another storyline in this batshit comic book!

The 'Shroom Report

Written by: Waluigi Time (talk)

Hello there, 'Shroom readers! Time to report things about The 'Shroom again, or more specifically, things about Issue 206! Special thanks as always to our diligent spreadsheet maintenance man Meta Knight.

For new readers or anyone needing a reminder, here's how all this works. Categories that are absent due to being not applicable this month are crossed out.

​
  • 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.
Guest Sections
Section Writer
Hall of Shame Waluigi Time (talk), Hooded Pitohui (talk), and Roserade (talk)
Milestones
Writer Milestone
GPM1000 (talk) 50 Pipe Plaza sections
Hooded Pitohui (talk) 100 Strategy Wing sections
300 overall sections
Most Sections Written
Team Writer Number of Sections
Main/Staff Henry Tucayo Clay (talk) 142
Fake News MCD (talk) 148
Fun Stuff Shoey (talk) 138
Palette Swap FunkyK38 (talk) 196
Pipe Plaza Yoshi876 (talk) 128
Critic Corner Hypnotoad (talk) 184
Strategy Wing Yoshi876 (talk) 115
Overall Yoshi876 (talk) 747
'Shroom Trivia
A section from each sub-team has won a Community Award at least once. Fake News sections have won the most, with 12 times including a two-way tie. Dear Anton holds the lion's share of those, winning 9 times across 3 categories from 2015 to 2017.

What's in a Campaign?

Written by: Shoey (talk)

Hello, and welcome back to What's in a Campaign?, The 'Shroom's only source for coverage on the hit BBC show Robot Wars. I've been doing some thinking, and I've decided that, well, quite frankly, you're all spoiled! There have been too many consecutive months of high-quality robot after high-quality robot. You're all starting to become complacent, expecting high-octane action, giant flips, and all-time classic fights. That's why, this month, to remind you of the purity of robot combat and what this sport is really all about, we're going to be looking at classic Series 3 "okay, I guess" robot, The Darke Destroyer!

But I like the darkness!!!

Built by the Darke family (Rob, Chris, and Neale, with Chris driving the robot into battle), the Darke Destroyer has a very… let's say… unique design. Basically, the Darke Destroyer is a one-wheel drive robot with one really big wheel at the front that does most of the steering. It does have tiny wheels at the back for balance and control, but they aren't doing much steering. While not exactly optimal for robot combat, giving The Darke Destroyer clearance of five feet, it does provide for a pretty neat visual; when the wheel turns, it makes the head turn, making it look like the Darke Destroyer is looking around! The main power source here is a car window motor.

For a weapon, The Darke Destroyer has a four-piece spinning lawnmower blade, which of course is rear-mounted! I mean, why would you want to front-mount it? Then you might be able to easily hit thing when you're driving around. The lawnmower blade, powered by a mini-starter motor, is mostly useless! For one thing, it's a lawnmower blade, which, as you'll note, is made to cut, well, grass! Grass is famously not metal, and it's cutting into metal here, so it mostly just stops upon hitting things! On top of that, it's a rear-mounted weapon on a robot that basically has one main wheel, meaning that it's much harder to actually hit an opponent with it! Armored in 16 gauge mild steel, The Darke Destroyer weighs only 66kg despite the fact that the weight limit is 80kg! That's not great! But I have to admit that I think the face is pretty cute…

As a reminder, all pictures are sourced from the fantastic Robot Wars Wiki. This month, we don't have a video of just The Darke Destroyer's fights because… well, you heard the description of that bot! Instead, we have a video of the heat it was in. If you wish to watch along, timestamps will be provided.

Qualifying through The Gauntlet like all Series 3 robots did (even though Series 3 is combat only…), The Dakre Destroyer is placed into Heat F. Its opponent is the axe bot Sgt. Meikle… WHO IS SOMEHOW LIGHTER THAN THE DARKE DESTROYER, AT ONLY 64KG??? What, do they not want to win? Well, anyway, I use the term "axe bot" very loosely, because, while yes, legally Sgt. Meikle has an axe, it's so thin and so slow that it's completely useless. Also, since this is Series 3, Sgt. Meikle also has spikes, because why not!

The fight (15:31) begins with the opponents slowly driving towards each other. The Darke Destroyer "strikes" first, grazing Sgt. Meikle with its lawnmower blade, which of course does nothing. Sgt. Meikle attempts to bring down the axe, but it looks like it's jammed, because it's just kind of moving up and down slowly and ineffectually. While this happens, The Darke Destroyer actually does some damage to Sgt. Meikle!

HOW MUCH MORE DAMAGE CAN SGT. MEIKLE TAKE?

That's right! The Darke Destroyer puts a gash into the armor of the axe bot, which of course causes the lawnmower blade to stop. Sgt. Meikle begins to give chase to The Darke Destroyer, tanking a mighty blow from the lawnmower blade of doom and using its wedge to push The Darke Destroyer around. The Darke Destroyer escapes and puts another "gash" into the armor of Sgt. Meikle. Sgt. Meikle continues to try and give chase, but The Dark Destroyer has a clever plan! Realizing the axe of Sgt. Meikle is, oh, I don't know, the worst axe in the history of the show, The Darke Destroyer keeps stopping and letting Sgt. Meikle run into the lawnmower blade. Why? By letting Sgt. Meikle run into its weapon again and again, The Darke Destroyer can cheese aggression and damage points, I guess.

AND DOWN TAPS THE AXE!

The two robots continue driving around, slowly bumping into each other, when, suddenly, The Darke Destroyer gets what I think we can safely call a medium-speed charge into Sgt. Meikle, which is the most exciting thing to happen so far! Sgt. Meikle takes advantage of the close proximity of its opponent, tapping its axe on top of The Darke Destroyer as it begins pushing it… somewhere. But Sgt. Meikle makes a mistake, getting too close to Matilda, who, determined to try and salvage anything about this fight, charges out of the CPZ and attacks Sgt. Meikle! That's the last even remotely exciting thing that happens in this fight. The last thirty seconds are just the two competitors bumping into each other ineffectually, and if you don't like two robots with bad weapons slowly bumping into each other, then you don't like early Robot Wars, baby! The fight goes to the judges, who deliberate, looking at style, damage, control, and aggression. In what I have to assume was a low-scoring affair, the fight goes to The Darke Destroyer, who is sent through to the next round!

In the second round, The Darke Destroyer faces off with the returning T2, who participated in Series 2 as Tantrum. T2 is actually a pretty good little shovebot, easily dispatching Vector in the first round, so this fight has some promise! The fight (33:05) starts with T2 slamming into the blade of The Darke Destroyer before pressing on with its offensive, pushing The Darke Destroyer around the arena. The Darke Destroyer manages to escape and attempts to get it is lawnmower blade into the battle, but T2 easily tanks a blow from it, stopping the blade and pushing The Darke Destroyer into the claws of Dead Metal, who drives itss circular saw into the face of the The Darke Destroyer. T2 then comes in for another attack, but The Darke Destroyer dodges them and this time pushes T2 into Dead Metal. Well, it pushes T2 into the body of Dead Metal, at least. Both robots escape the CPZ with no more damage caused.

LOOKS LIKE WE GOT A REAL MEXICAN STANDOFF!

The Darke Destroyer lands a few blows with its spinning blade that, while not causing any damage, are good for aggression points. T2 then again gets the better of The Darke Destroyer in a pushing bout, this time pushing them into the CPZ of Shunt. Despite the scare, The Darke Destroyer is able to get away before the axe of Shunt comes down! The two robots dance around each other, each one looking for an opening. T2 gets the worse of the dancing, driving itself into the claws of Dead Metal and then slamming itself into the arena wall in a desperate bid to escape. Again, The Darke Destroyer attempts to get its blade into the action, but again T2 tanks it.

"Hi, yeah, it's me, The Darke Destroyer. You're probably wondering how I got in this situation."

Having tanked the blade, T2 gets under The Darke Destroyer and slams it into the wall. The fight then ends with T2 pushing The Darke Destroyer around. After a pretty good fight, it goes to the judges, who again, looking at style, damage, control, and aggression, very controversially on a split 2-1 decision go for The Darke Destroyer. The crowd is very split by this result, and through the cheering there is audible booing heard. If I'm being honest, I don't get this decision. Now, again, as with every judges' decisions, it's a five minute fight condensed into two to three minutes, so it's very possible that what wasn't aired had The Darke Destroyer dominating. But based on the edit presented, I don't even think it was a close fight! T2 dominated The Darke Destroyer from start to finish. That said, regardless of how I feel about it now, this fight happened over 20 years ago! We can't change the outcome now, and The Darke Destroyer moves into a somewhat surprising heat final.

In the heat final, The Darke Destroyer would face off against a clone of Series 2's Cassius named Gravedigger. By the way, weirdly enough, Gravedigger is not even the only funeral- themed robot in Series 3. Another bot named Undertaker, who looks just like Gravedigger except for having an axe instead of a lifting arm, lost in the first round of its heat! This, of course, proves once and for all that Gravediggers are better than Undertakers.

The fight (38:39) starts with The Darke Destroyer trying to reverse into Gravedigger because, again, they have a rear-mounted weapon. Unfortunately, it turns out that it's really hard to steer in reverse with a robot that basically has one big wheel, so they do not land a blow! Gravedigger uses their wedge to get underneath The Darke Destroyer, but they're not able to flip them over because The Darke Destroyer is not over their lifting arm. Adjusting their position, they simply drive them around. The lawnmower blade of The Darke Destroyer hits Gravedigger, leaving what appears to be a scratch on the armor of Gravedigger.

LOOK AT THE CARNAGE!

The two robots drive around each other, with Gravedigger unable to get under The Darke Destroyer and lawnmower blade of The Darke Destroyer doing little to Gravedigger. Twice does Gravedigger very nearly get under The Darke Destroyer, but they just can't fully get under them. Finally, The Darke Destroyer actually does what appears to be real damage! While the two robots are driving into each other, looking for advantages, the Darke Destoryer manages to get an attack onto the side of Gravedigger, not only scratching the armor of Gravedigger, causing the top panel of the armor to buckle and pop up! Very exciting stuff!

Enraged over the damage it has suffered, Gravedigger finally uses its wedge to get under part of The Darke Destroyer. It's still not enough to flip The Darke Destroyer over, but it's enough to push The Darke Destroyer into the CPZ, where, once again, Dead Metal lies in waits. Again, The Darke Destroyer finds itself in the clutches of Dead Metal. At first, Dead Metal lets The Darke Destroyer go without driving its circular saw into the body of The Darke Destroyer, but that turns out to be a ruse, and it turns out that Dead Metal was simply lulling The Darke Destroyer into a false sense of security! Once again, Dead Metal sends its circular saw into the head of The Darke Destroyer, sending sparks flying!

Dead Metal gives The Darke Destroyer a face lift.

The Darke Destroyer manages to escape, taking a shove from Gravedigger in the process. Attempting to go on the offensive, The Darke Destroyer reverses into Gravedigger, but the lawnmower blade simply stops on contact with Gravedigger's body. Gravedigger then charges at The Darke Destroyer in an attempt to get under them, but instead they just push them away… After some more, uh, I guess you'd call it back and forth action, The Darke Destroyer again attempts to reverse into Gravedigger to get its spinning lawnmower blade into the fight. But this time Gravedigger is ready, charging into The Darke Destroyer and actually getting under them! Using their lifting arm, Gravedigger, with a mighty heave, throws The Darke Destroyer across the arena, sending it into the clutches of Dead Metal yet again!

Dead Metal lowers the circular saw! But, uh, this time, since it's caught the back of The Darke Destroyer, the saw can't actually go low enough to make contact with the lawnmower blades. Honestly, I find this hilarious! The Darke Destroyer escapes and starts driving around the arena, trying to think up a plan. Gravedigger comes in for another attack and pushes The Darke Destroyer around a bit. Gravedigger then manages to slowly push The Darke Destroyer into the arena wall, but still can't manage to get fully under them. If I'm being honest, that says more about Gravedigger than it does The Darke Destroyer.

It took way too long to get here…

Finally, Gravedigger comes on another charge, and, finally this time they fully get under The Darke Destroyer and manage to flip The Darke Destroyer over. The Darke Destroyer has no self-righting mechanism, so The Darke Destroyer's campaign ends with a knockout loss in the heat final.

The Darke Destroyer would return in Series 4, where it would somehow find even less success. Despite being a returning heat finalist and despite there being 32 seeds in a 96-robot tournament, The Darke Destroyer was not given a seed. Now armed with spring-loaded axes that the Darke family called "wagglers", The Darke Destroyer fell in the second round of its heat after being flipped over by Kronic the Wedgehog.

Heh, "please turn over". Classic.

The Darke Destroyer made one last attempt to qualify for Robot Wars in Series 5, but failed to qualify. So, yeah. The Darke Destroyer? Not a great robot. A very okay robot for the early days of robot combat, though. I think it has quite a bit of character, but, honestly, it's a robot that could only have ever made a heat final in the first three series. It might have been able to win a fight in Series 5 because Series 5 is weird with so many horrible robots like Juggernot 2 and the Tartan Terror qualifying. Since Series 5 a 1v1 format, even some terrible robots like Evolution and fucking Widow's Revenge managed to win their first round fights, so maybe The Darke Destroyer would have had a chance. But the Darke Destroyer would go no further. It's a robot that, outside of Series 1-3, would have a heat second round ceiling but that more than likely would fall in the first round!

I hope this month's section taught you an important lesson! You need to appreciate that months of exciting modern robot combat, because I have plenty more Series 3 heat finalists I can whip out! Panzer, Cerberus, Inverterbrat! I can bring them out! DON'T THREATEN ME WITH A GOOD TIME!

The 'Shroom: Issue 207
Staff sections Staff Notes • The 'Shroom Spotlight • Poochy's Picks • Credits
Features Fake News • Fun Stuff • Palette Swap • Pipe Plaza • Critic Corner • Strategy Wing
Specials Community Awards Dossier
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