Bowser's Shell Is Not Attached
So recently I've been in a conversation about Bower's shell and whether or not it comes off like all other turtle's shells do. Now outside of my previous post about how shells work in the Mario world, Bowser equipping different shells I remembered something else.
Bowser wears clothing underneath his shell, which implies his shell is a separate part of his body. We see this in Super Mario Odyssey when he is wearing his wedding tuxedo, it quite clearly goes under his shell. If his shell was attached to him, it would instead goes over his shell. This is also not a one time thing, we see it in other games. In Dr. Mario World with Dr. Bowser. We see it in Bowser's outfit for Mario Strikers: Battle League. We even see it in his outfit for Mario Golf: Super Rush.
An extra bit off info is Bowser's model in basically ever game has his shell as detached from his back. The video LEGIT Bowsers Back Hidden For At Least 17 Years - Boundary Break has some prime examples for it and is where these visuals come from. Bowser Junior's shell is also separate from his body. With even Bowser's clothing being shown to completely cover his back. This is different from Toad's model which his cap as part of his body, which makes sense because that is the intention. The only exception to this is Bowser's Smash Bros. model, which as we know Smash Bros. is not canon.
So it has been argued that Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story shows us Bowser's back is part of his shell. But people don't pay attention the fact his whole shell isn't shown as hurting but only parts of his back, say parts that are underneath. Whether or not the seemingly spikes underneath his shell's spikes are actually part of his body or a mistake on the devs part is unknown. All this is backed up by the fact that I established in my previous post that Bowser's can go to shops to buy shells he can swap out with his current shell. Some have tried to argue this is simply a gameplay mechanic because the different shells don't change Bowser's appearance, which like no that's not how this works. Equipable items in all games often don't suddenly have say a Pokemon wearing a sash or stone on their sprite or model. Even though they are canonically wearing or holding one. It would also be like arguing Goombas don't bite because the devs sometimes forget to animate them biting. Because as we know Goombas bite Mario and friends.
Well you may be wondering why the likes of Broque Monsieur and other shop owners are selling Bowser shells in the first place. Well this is because there are multiple Kuppas(Not to be confused with NokoNokos) in the Mario world, whether get to see them or not. These include Bowser's Father, the Blue Kuppas(Bowsers) whose identities are unknown, the subspecies that the Koopalings are a part of, likely Junior Troopa, and Motley Bossblob and the various clones Bowser has made of himself. Overall there are many Kuppas out in the Mario world that would need somewhere to buy shells, hence why such shells are being sold. Said shells are come in a variety of colors and designs a well, and Bowser even has several extras he uses in Karting events. Written by Eris the Lorekeeper
