In several words; lazy dialogue. Clumsy writing. Story was ALL over the place. The chemistry between characters from the first Mario movie was non-existent.
You could tell Jack Black was doing his best as Bowser, but there was nothing really for him to work with. Like - Bowser’s worried he was a terrible father and is seemingly trying to turn over a new leaf! I’m thinking ‘YES! OH LETS DIVE INTO THAT! He’s gonna be faced with this dilemma of choosing to make his son happy or doing right by his new friends and we might see him struggling to fall back into his role as a parent to Junior and- wait.
Oh okay that all meant nothing. That whole bonding thing was basically swept under the rug and forgotten by the end. Okay.
‘Ooh but that’s not how Bowser would act in canon~!’
Fine. Then don’t set him up like he’s growing a conscience by having him physically and verbally worry about Mario and Luigi getting hurt halfway through the film AND make a meaningful sacrifice to help them on their journey, only to decide, ‘actually. Nah. F those guys’ 10 minutes later????
The film had. Potential. Capital P.
Plot points didn’t flow together. There was far too much that was left unresolved.
I felt like I was getting blasted by Nintendo advertising every other second.
Transitions felt forced. The natural flow of the movie couldn’t have been more stilted.
Positives: Soundtrack was lively and well composed. The core music of the games were nicely adapted to suit the action scenes.
Bowser Jr was adorable. Sucked they didn’t let him have more of an arc.
I need a fic where Mephisto get amnesia and lost on earth while his sister is going insane and the princesses had to slowly help Mephisto recover but with every turn Praxina just think the princesses have some sick plan to use her dead brother as leverage.
I need Mephisto only denying his magic origin— think Roxy from Winx and I need him to actually doing good on Earth and for a moment the princesses thought “maybe we leave him like this” until he come face to face with Praxina and see how broken she is and want to help her because somethign in him just can’t stand her hurting.
I need Iris to be the person re-taught Mephisto magic and show him how to use magic without the black magic he always use
I need Mephisto to have glimpses of his past
I need Mephisto to question if he want to go back to be that person
I need Praxina to be so deep into her grief and pain she can’t see past everything
I need Praxina to be manipulated by Bane so in the end she could break free from it
I need Mephisto to wonder if he could miss a person he technically never knew
I need Mephisto and the princess especially Iris’s aunt to be a found family
I need Mephisto to risk everything in the end to save his sister
Hiii hello I went down a rabbit role and now I made a guide of (almost) all the fonts used in the game, here's the link for the drive I put them all in:
Sooo I just had an idea- Sunny Day Jack x Obsession Movie 2026 AU
I think Ian would be desperate enough to use the Willow Wish and wish on us (The MC) to fall for him all over again and things would go horrible for Ian- that's scenario 1
Scenario 2: After MC find the Tape in the Thrift Store they would find a Willow Wish that same day and wishes for Jack to be real (Using the Willow Wish) and ofc the whole plot plays out especially Jack's "obsession" (I know what I did there) 😂
Edit: I could go on with different ideas for the SDJ Characters like for Shaun, Nick, & even Barry just to make it more interesting- heck maybe involving DachaBo or other YandereVNs to pair em with an Obession!AU
these are the artists that i inspired a lot for my art:
BLACKBOX | 02png | Dan Mora (THE GOAT) | ORKA i often revisit the mahwa <3: A Stepmother's Märchen | M7 | ttrraasshccaann | Pilyeon | Takehiko Inoue (mangaka of Slam Dunk & Vagabond)
should be a long list of them but these are the ones that come to mind hkjjbmb You'll notice that most them are more focused on characters than backgrounds/landscapes bcs thats my strongest area so i'd like to improve it more, but i know at some point i'll hve to get out from my comfort zone and learn it sobsss
@muspellssynir I love the way your brain works :))
Ais
✩ Eyes wide, has to actively keep his jaw from hitting the floor.
✩ D O W N B A D
✩ He just stares at you before he chuckles, his chuckle turning into laugher
✩ “You're a bold one, aren't you, sparrow?”
✩ He walks up close to you and grabs your chin, leaning down so his face is inches away from yours
✩ “What made you think I would do all of that with you?” said he, ever the asshole
✩ He just stands there, crossing his arms, still looking down at you
✩ Meanwhile his brain is short-circuiting.
✩ His internal thoughts are just screaming. He clears his throat as he looks down at you, his hands slightly clenched into fists. His mind was telling him the same thing again and again, how in the world could you have come up with all that stuff?!
✩ At the same time, he was trying his best not to think about the fact that you were right there, in front of him, your eyes are so beautiful and those lips... No, no shut up, don't think like that, get a grip on yourself.
✩ And maybe something like…
✩ “Oh god, oh god, oh god, oh god, so cute, so pretty, so close, oh god, don’t think dirty thoughts, DON’T THINK DIRTY THOUGHTS—”
✞ The corner of his mouth twitches upwards for just a second
✞ a m u s e d, and doesn't even try to hide it, ffs
✞ “Is that a confession or a threat?”
✞ He studies you for a long moment, golden eyes cold and sharp before he rolls his eyes
✞ He chooses to plainly ignore both your smirk and the light flush under his collar.
✞ You're infuriating, impulsive, shameless, and entirely too attractive for your own good. But he'll die before he ever admits that out loud.
✞ Every moment of this interaction is being carefully cataloged, analyzed. His golden eyes remain fixed on every minute change of expression, every slight shift in body language.
✞ Just how far are you willing to go?
✞ His own words play back in his mind, ‘I see you are not to be dissuaded.’
✞ He mentally chides himself. Snap out of it.
✞ "I'll give you credit for trying," he says calmly, his tone somehow even softer than before.
Leander
🗡 He spits out his drink cartoon–style
🗡 He sets it down and turns his attention fully towards you
🗡 Then the widest, dumbest, prettiest grin spreads across his face like butter in a commercial
🗡 “Well, all those are lovely options!”
🗡 *proceeds to give constructive criticism*
🗡 His thoughts have run w i l d. I’m talking rounding the universe at Mach 7 speed.
🗡 The moment is a delightful mix of curiosity and excitement, a swirling combination of "yes, yes, yes" with a sprinkle of "hmm, interesting" and a dash of "oh my god, I want".
🗡 but not like in a needy way, more like in a please-please-please-I-want-this-so-bad-but-I'll-respect-your-boundaries-and-be-patient kinda way
🗡 Becomes the 🥺
🗡 “So, it’s a date! :D”
Mhin
🕊 Bewildered in every sense of the word
🕊 They clear their throat, struggling to regain control of their own treacherous thoughts.
🕊 They look up to meet your gaze, the expression in their eyes guarded but their voice betraying just a hint of curiosity.
🕊 “You sure move fast.”
🕊 internally dying. Bye bye mortal realm, Allmother here I come
🕊 Mhin can barely put their thoughts into anything resembling coherence.
🕊 A small part of their mind responds to your words with a dangerous flutter, and an even more dangerous hope that they desperately try to suppress.
🕊 Attraction and suspicion vie for dominance, each one trying to drown out the voice of reason
🕊 Torn between wanting to lean closer and wanting to bolt for the nearest emergency exit.
🕊 "Yes yes PLEASE YES– NO! BAD BRAIN NO!" and "Why is this idiot doing this to me and WHY am I secretly hoping they'll keep talking??!! AAAAAA—“
Vere
✦ He lets out a low hum, resting his jaw on his palm, and his elbow upon the countertop.
✦ "Do tell," he inquires, his lips quirk up into the faintest of smirks and a soft snort escaping his nose in a laugh.
✦ A pause. Something akin to curiosity glimmers in his expression. Something about the set of his shoulders—the slight tilt of his head—strikes you as vaguely feline.
✦ He let his arms rest on either side of the other, pinning you against the wall in the process as he loomed slightly over you.
✦ Incoherent babbling and just overall thirst ✨ At least until he gets too flustered and just kind of starts to malfunction, like a computer that suddenly blue screens
✦ Definitely not holding back those thoughts. He's trying reeeeally hard to keep a facade of aloofness but his mind goes places that are far from holy
✦ yesyespleaseplease~
✦ He can't give in so easily!
✦ He's gonna go completely feral the moment you even hint at giving him the go-ahead—
I think this small change in the Touchstarved demo update has a lot of symbolism behind it.
Spoilers ahead!
In both the original demo and the updated demo, after MC had been taken back to the Wet Wick, Leander offers MC an alcoholic beverage. If MC accepts, they receive a drink that is supposedly the 'local' specialty.
In the original demo, this drink was 'plum gin'.
In the updated demo, this drink is 'pomegranate wine'.
The pomegranate has a lot of assosiated symbolism: life & death, fertility, and the feminine. If you've been in the TS fandom for a while, then these may sound familiar: Leander has very similar symbolism all over him.
But if you're unaware, here's the rundown:
Leander's belt is in the shape of the 'Triple Moon' pagan symbol, which represents fertility, death, and birth & rebirth. It's also assosiated with Hecate; a Greek Goddess of magic and witchcraft.
His earring contains an ouroboros: a serpant eating it's own tail. This represents the cycle of life, death, and rebirth.
His assosiated flower is the lily, which represents femininity, fertility, and rebirth.
On the lapel on his coat, he has the chain with the alchemical symbol for earth. This represents mother earth and the colour green.
Shout out to @/luckhound & @/astranautic for compiling Leander's symbolism! And of course Wikipedia.
So in general, the pomegranate wine can be see as a continuation of Leander's themes of life, death, and rebirth & the feminine. However, the pomegranate has a very famous Greek myth that really fits this updated demo version of Leander: The Abduction of Persephone.
The gist of this myth is:
Zeus (King of the Cosmos) kidnapped Persephone to be the wife of Hades (God of the dead & King of the Underworld). Persephone's mother, Demeter (Goddess of agriculture), grows angry and forces a constant winter in grief. Beacause of this, Zeus forces Persephone to be sent back to her mother. However, before she departed, Hades gave Persephone a pomegranate seed to eat. Because she has eaten food from the underworld, she is forced to stay there for some time of the year.
(Main sources were Apollodorus & the Homeric Hymn 'To Demeter')
This myth is meant to serve as an aetiology of the seasons in Greek myth, but for us Touchstarved fans, the focus is on how the pomagrante is used as a means of entrapment.
Throughout the demo, not-so-subtly Leander places control and 'entrapment' over the MC.
MC is only able to talk to Leander when they bring up Kuras. Otherwise they wouldn't get past the Adderstone.
When it comes to touching him for the first time, if MC holds back, leander will grab their hand anyways. If MC does touch him, MC's shock makes them pulls back a bit, but Leander 'catches' their wrist before they can pull back.
Insists info on MC's curse remains between the two of them. Also calls it 'our little secret' in Leander's path later on.
Gives MC a room: a room Leander knows more about than MC. I'll note that Leander didn't choose the specific room, but he's likely familar with all of the Wick.
Insists he be the one to buy you a drink (instead of Ais).
Leander to MC: "Then how would you feel about being on a leash?"
MC about Leander: "I feel trapped in the softness of his expression, and the lightness of his touch".
Leander to MC: "I'm a little jealous. Part of me wants to keep you all to myself".
Leander tends to choose where conversations happen (such as suggesting going outside or going upstairs).
Leander locks the door with MC and him inside the bedroom during his path.
Leander to MC: "I won't leave you, and you won't leave me."
Leander to MC (in response to 'what do you want'): "Too many things. But I'll start with you."
I believe this allusion to be intentional; Leander is offering MC something of a pomegranate, MC trusts Leander to consume it, and he will later 'entrap' the MC. These dynamic seems to be the core of his full route.
There's also the matter of Hades being the one to have Persephone eat the pomegranate seed without her understand what it will do to her. I can father two possibe meanings with this.
The first, is that it places Leander in the position of Hades, God of the dead.
The second, is that MC might not know what they're getting into with Leander.
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