The idea undergone a couple of revisions, and Mario Kart World is partially the reason it went into this direction (because of one of Waluigi's costumes).
Although I think "The Super Mario Galaxy Movie" should've been the third installment, I am excited at the possibility of Toad becoming Captain Toad for the film!
I mean, he already has the backpack. Just gotta give him the headlamp, and maybe the outfit.
Something I don't really like with certain fans of Super Mario is the insistence that it was "always obvious" that Toad and Captain Toad were separate characters. (As well as assuming you didn't play any of the games Captain is involved in, or weren't paying attention)
Because of that, I'd like to present how, and why, I thought the two were the same character. Because I'm one of the fans who thought that was the case when Captain Toad made his debut.
KEEP THIS IN MIND: I'm not trying to PROVE that Toad and Captain Toad are the same character. I am simply giving my perspective on this to show how I, as well as possibly others, believed they were until that interview with Koichi Hayashida happened. (and, with the exception of Mario Superstar Baseball, I HAVE played these games, thanks for asking)
For simplicity's sake: I'll be referring to Captain Toad as "Captain," and Toad as either "Toad" or "THE Toad" (depending on the context)
Super Mario Sunshine was the first game to introduce us to a five-man Toad band, which consists of the following: Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, and Purple. They didn't have a group name, but they could be considered the predecessors to the Toad Brigade. (assuming, of course, they aren't the same individuals)
From what I've seen, many fans consider the Red Toad "THE Toad," even though he's sporting a red vest here. And that's because the manual for the game refers to him as "Toad," as well as specifically lists him alongside Peach and Toadsworth, compared to the rest of his four friends who don't even get a passing mention.
And if you think this is some dubism or translation mistake, no. The Japanese manual does the same, calling him "キノピオ" (Kinopio) instead of "あかキノピオ" (Aka Kinopio).
And if you're wondering about the Japanese text below his name, it's "ピーチ姫のおとも" (Princess Peach's companion).
So now we come to Captain's debut, Super Mario Galaxy, and it has another five-man Toad band who are referred to as "the Toad Brigade." Just like the prior game, this groups consists of the following colors: Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, and Purple.
If you've played Super Mario Sunshine before, your first thought upon seeing them was likely, "It's Toad and his friends from that game again." Sure, three (technically four due to Green Toad in Super Mario Galaxy 2) are sporting new looks, but you could likely justify it as Nintendo wanting to make them a bit more distinct from each other, kind of like how Luigi used to be "Green Mario" back in the day. Really, could anyone fault you for likely assuming the Toad Brigade might be the same characters from Sunshine, due to their similar appearances?
That being said, if we're being technical, their collectible trophy from Super Smash Bros. For Wii U suggests they aren't, since it only lists Galaxy 1 and Galaxy 2, while making no mention of Sunshine. However. that game was released later (2014), and is besides the point. Currently, in the magical year of 2007 and 2010, it wouldn't seem too farfetched for a Super Mario fan to assume the Toad Brigade to be a more fleshed out version of the Sunshine Group.
Take a look in the game's intro as well. Here, the second image on the bottom has him with four other Toads: Blue, Green, Yellow, and Purple. The setup of the second image is very similar to the Sunshine group, as well as the Toad Brigade. Sure, Blue isn't wearing his glasses, nor is Toad wearing a red vest, but I think that's a minor hiccup more than anything. (it would be like claiming the girl in Rosalina's story isn't her because the hair color doesn't match up) If you wanted, you could likely assume Toad changed his attire somewhere between escaping Peach's Castle, and meeting Mario at Honeyhive Galaxy.
And look who's on the box/key art of Super Mario Galaxy 2. It's none other than THE Toad! Why would they put a character who, by all accounts, we only meet somewhere in the game's prologue before blasting off to Sky Station Galaxy? Wouldn't it make more sense to put Captain there, or even Luigi?
It's not like Nintendo didn't even have a render for Captain, as the artwork for Starship Mario shows. Sure, it appears to simply be Captain's in-game model, but I doubt many would've noticed or cared since he would be pretty far away and not front-and-center on the game's box art..
Also of note is that Toad specifically had artwork made for Super Mario Galaxy 1. Not only that, he even appeared in some merchandise promoting the game. (And I'm not talking about just the trading cards made in America. I'm talking about some Japan-exclusive keychains too!) This is despite the fact that, if we go by Hayashida's words for Super Mario 3D World, Toad only shows up in the prologue, and in Grand Finale Galaxy in that game. If you were Nintendo, wouldn't it make more logical sense to make a render for Captain (and his crew) instead?
"But WispGuy! Toad wears a BLUE vest! Captain wore a RED vest in the Galaxy games!"
...And as I established earlier when I mentioned Super Mario Sunshine, THE Toad also wore a red vest. In fact, that wasn't the only time he wore one.
Take a look at Puzzle & Dragons Z + Super Mario Bros. Edition. Now, on the Helper Selection screen, the Red Toad is simply referred to as… well, "Red Toad." But in the game's cutscenes, he's referred to as "Toad." Which kind of implies that we're meant to see this Red Toad as THE Toad.
To make sure this wasn't a dubism, I checked the Japanese version. He's called "キノピオ" (Kinopio) in cutscenes, while being called "あかキノピオ" (Aka Kinopio) in the Helper Selection screen as well. Based on that, I'd say it's safe to assume that it's also the same case over there as well.
I'll also mention the Super Mario Stadium series ("Mario Superstar Baseball" and "Mario Super Sluggers"). Both games have a playable Red Toad among the four other colors, but they also seem to be kind of vague on whether we should see Red Toad as THE Toad or not. Red Toad's profile in Mario Superstar Baseball is shared with the other four, while Mario Super Sluggers starts their profiles with "A Toad..." before diverging in what they specialize in. I should also note that both games also have Red Toads as spectators, but it's pretty safe to dismiss them.
In the intro to Superstar Baseball, there's a Red Toad who's shown hanging out with Peach and Daisy, which could imply this is supposed to be THE Toad. He even has positive chemistry with Toadette, and negative chemistry with Wario! However, the special Challenge Mode ending implies there are multiple Red Toads playing with Mario and friends. (Just for an example, as soon as Mario arrives at the field, we get a shot of Diddy and Red Toad celebrating. It then cuts back to Mario and Peach, and another Red Toad runs by behind them. Then Bowser arrives, and we cut back Mario reacting with Red Toad and Diddy behind him) This is why I'm not entirely confident in saying this is THE Toad, but I won't dismiss it either.
In comparison to Superstar Baseball, I'm more confident in saying that Red Toad in Super Sluggers is THE Toad. There is one cutscene that has a small handful of Red Toads (where everyone is celebrating Mario's victory over Bowser), but otherwise, there's only one Red Toad shown hanging out with the playable cast. (Again, not counting the spectators watching the game)
...
Now that we've gone over some of the Mario games, why don't we check some of the spin-offs and other merchandise?
...Like Super Smash Bros. Ultimate! In this game, one of the collectibles you can get are Spirits, which range from characters to collectible items. Some of these Spirits can evolve into stronger ones. Notably, the Toad Spirit is one of them, and it turns into the Captain Toad Spirit. This is one of the most blatant cases of suggesting Toad and Captain are the same character.
Nintendo could've made them separate Spirits, or have Captain evolve from a Toad wearing a red vest called "Toad (Red)", but no. They picked the red-spotted, blue vest Toad.
Now, you could say this is a mistake. After all, it's pretty well-known that Super Smash Bros. tends to get a few facts and details wrong. "Kaptain K. Rool is King K. Rool's brother," anyone? That being said, I think there's a HUGE difference between, "accidentally claiming someone's alias is their brother," and "this character will evolve into this character once you hit the max level". And a lot of the Spirits that evolve make logical sense.
Nintendo, Shigeru Miyamoto, or anyone who works on the Super Mario franchise, could've told the Super Smash Bros. team at any point, "No, Toad and Captain Toad are separate characters. Either make them separate Spirits, or add a "Toad (Red)" spirit who evolves into Captain Toad." But guess what didn't happen?
You can argue Super Smash Bros. is an unrelated spin-off and it "isn't canon," but this isn't something like a simple translation mistake. This is something that Nintendo could've easily caught and fixed at any point in the game's development. And they chose to not do so.
If you want a counterargument, the only one who comes close to being a mistake might be Nipper Plant evolving into Petey Piranha. Though I suppose one could argue that Nipper Plant is what Petey Piranha used to look like as a baby before he grew up. There is also Boo evolving into King Boo, but not only did Puzzle & Dragons Z + Super Mario Bros. Edition do something like that before Ultimate did (Boo, to Big Boo, to King Boo), Super Mario Bros. Wonder did it as well afterwards, and in two levels to boot.
And then there's the Super Mario LEGO series, where Toad (and Toadette) were introduced in the set, "Toad's Treasure Hunt." You know, a name that sounds pretty close to "Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker." Granted, the gimmick is for Mario to try and earn prizes at the Treasure Squares, but still.
There also used to be a page describing the characters in the Super Mario brand, and a notable part of Toad's was "Whether he’s battling enemies with LEGO® Mario™ or searching for treasure..." However, it seems LEGO has removed the character page, so I can't obtain a screenshot for it...
That being said, LEGO later released a new set called "Captain Toad's Camp." Of note is that they always refer to him specifically as "Captain Toad," not even calling him "Toad" for short. Though I suppose you could view it as simply an alternate costume, like Fire Mario or Cat Peach. Still, I'm not gonna dismiss it as a potential counterpoint for "Toad and Captain are the same character."
That being said, Captain was given a frying pan, just like how Toad wields one in The Super Mario Bros. Movie. And speaking of which...
We now move on to The Super Mario Bros. Movie, where Toad is one of the film's major characters. Now, it would be one thing if he simply had Captain's backpack and they left it at that, but he also has Captain's Theme Song as his leitmotif! Now, Nintendo and/or Illumination didn't have to combine the two characters together (Toad has plenty of material he can work with on his own), but regardless of who's decision it was, it seems pretty apparent that Nintendo was okay with doing that for the movie.
Additionally, when the movie was released in Japan, they included a pamphlet with the movie that points out some of the movie's various references. The pamphlet says that Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker is a game "that stars Toad."
Not "stars a Toad."
Not "stars Captain Toad"
Not even "stars a Toad named Captain Toad."
They specifically went with "stars Toad." As in, THE Toad.
Considering this would be "misinformation," surely Nintendo, Illumination, or whoever is responsible for making it, would've issued a statement of some sort to correct this, right? But nope, they left it in as-is.
And before someone says, "They didn't combine them, they just took elements of Captain and gave them to Toad" ...does that really change anything? Like I said, it wasn't just Captain's backpack, they gave Captain's theme song to Toad as well. Beyond his clothing, what does Captain have to make him stand out from Toad if he were to appear in the movie's continuity?
Unless one of the sequels suddenly makes Captain his own character (which, honestly, I could see working as him being either Toad's childhood hero or father, whom he admires and is trying to emulate), Captain has pretty much been combined into Toad's character here.
...
Now, when you add all of these up, I think it becomes pretty obvious why fans tend to view the two as the same individual instead of separate characters, especially at a casual glance. This isn't even mentioning how the two share a few similar traits with each other.
Both of them act as the leader of a Toad group. Both of them are friends with Toadette. Both of them are accident-prone. Both of them tend to be cowardly, but are willing to push past it to face danger if necessary.
The only things really distinguishing them from each other (besides clothing) is the fact that Toad can sometimes be fearless (Super Mario Bros. 2, Wario's Woods), while Captain is shown to be a little obsessed with finding treasure (as shown in the ending to Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker). But even Captain was sometimes shown to be fearless in a few of the missions for Super Mario Galaxy 2, if not, at least persistent.
Before Koichi Hayashida's Miiverse Interview occurred, it was more-or-less "common knowledge" that Toad and Captain were the same character. I've seen it in various fan fictions and fan art that was released around the time of Super Mario Galaxy. No one questioned it. But once that interview happened, I recall me and my friends being surprised to learn that they weren't.
And I'm not trying to say, let alone prove, Hayashida's wrong or anything. But he, or rather, Nintendo at large, are not doing a good job at trying to keep this consistent. After all, that interview happened in 2014. But then Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (2018) and The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023) came along afterwards, and neither one abides by it.
That isn't to say they sometimes don't try to do so. Super Nintendo World, for example, has Toad as one of their meet-n-greet characters. Meanwhile, in Yoshi's Adventure, you can find an animatronic Captain Toad posing next to one of the Yoshi Eggs you're told to keep an eye out for. See, two separate characters!
Regardless, the way I see it, it's like how Shugo Takahashi says that Wario and Waluigi aren't brothers, or even friends. Like, I could believe that they're just teaming up if this was better established early on, but after their many misadventures, you can't tell me the two don't view each other as friends by this point. Like, they may still bicker and argue, but to me, I always thought that they have their own form of "brotherly love."
If you're interested, I wrote a bit more about this here. (mainly because I intended to include it here, but I thought it went a bit too off-track for my main discussion)
Anyway, back to Toad and Captain. If you see the two as different individuals, cool. If you see the two as the same character, cool. I'm not gonna stop you from believing in one or the other.
I hope this sheds some light on the situation. Personally, I might want Nintendo to combine the two (because it would be less of a headache) but I'm not gonna ignore or dismiss the times they DO keep them separate.
While I do not celebrate Christmas, this gag is primarily made because I wanted a perfect scenario on Mario getting an egg on his face, and December's holidays is a perfect time for this.
The colouring of this strip is something that I experimented, using a tint on the colours to convey the lighted up indoor, and I think the effect turned out quite well.
The layout is a bit unusual but hopefully it's easier to follow despite that.
This cartoon is inspired by a comic strip (Old Master Q) that I read where one character didn't manage to see what's on their right to them because they have a blind spot thanks to the bangs that covered that eye. I immediately thought that Rosalina has something like that and I like to imagine that this is a somewhat regular incident that she has. Some might see her as flawless and perfect but I personally think that that would be boring if she's all flawless. After that idea is set, a sequential art has to be made around the character.
Initially, the white in the comic strip is meant to be a bit of a shade of blue, like you can see with Mailtoad there, but given how bright space can be, I gave into adding a white shading to sell the idea that they are in a very bright environment. The hardest part is drawing the environment. The Comet Observatory is a rather complex bit of architecture, and even more so in what places I had to depict. I thought that the places I depicted were good enough, I hope.
I also experimented with a background event. I do not know if it's easily seen, but there is a Yellow Toad sleeping on the ship that the Toad Brigade takes. Basically if you didn't notice, Yellow Toad is sleeping on the roof of the ship, but slipped off and was carried back to the top by a bubble.
The reason for this subject is that I firmly believe that Mario debut in July 1981, contrary to the common assumption that he started in Super Mario Bros. (notice how the anniversary milestones specify the game's name, and not the character?). So there we have it: every character insisting that they know much about Mario, but they never actually do. Even the creator of Mario mentioned how much of Mario's character is a mystery.
The birth dates are a reference to significant dates in Mario's history. If you can guess where they are from, you're officially a Mario expert. But for the non-experts, here are the dates:
Toad - Sep 13: Super Mario Bros. release date
Peach - June 23: Super Mario 64 release date
Koopa Troopa - March 14/June 21: Mario Bros. release date
Pauline - July 9: Donkey Kong arcade release date
Yoshi - August 5: Yoshi's Island release date
Daisy - March 10: Mario Day
Toadette - October 11: From Nintendo Power
Birdo - August 12: Super Mario Wiki's debut date (This was done for The 'Shroom, so it's appropriate to use this wiki's date)
Colouring for the strip uses mono-colour for each character. It's experimental on my part, but it's also admittedly quite rushed. You see, this is a comic and doing many images can take up time, especially when the script received changes throughout the process. A simple colouring saves time by not picking up too much from the palette, which is ideal for something that's longer than previous works where the comics didn't even last more than 4 panels. Also, it's hard to notice, but white is absent from the page, where light shades of specific colours are used to convey that.
