#Kleptoad

[mimisillythe2nd]

Made a list of characters I’d like to see in Mario Kart World

[dontaskchaosandco]

unidentified fcukign things

[linkandorf]

A new set of Drawpile doodles, including some more Mario OC’s! (With species names next to them this time. How smart.) I really like this bunch a lot.

[weirdmarioenemies]

Name:  Kleptoad

Debut: Super Mario Galaxy 2

This is a very specific breed of cartoon frog. You know the ones! Maybe the best example would be Poliwhirl from Pokémon. Or that assist trophy frog in Smash 4?  

Kleptoad only appears in one mission, on a planet created by a Hungry Luma. You can probably guess that their name comes from Kleptomania, an impulsive disorder to steal things. Well jokes on you Kleptoad, because the only thing on your planet is other Kleptoads, making you doomed to an endless cycle of stealing from each other. 

On an unrelated note, their little gloves are adorable. 

[bahamutgreen]

kleptoad

[tyrorexdmzapp]

Lost recut plans part 3

As promised, I’ll talk about the cast I had planned for Paper Mario Recut 3, prior to 2020’s reveal and release of The Origami King.

Little side note- initially, Mario Story would be relegated to DMZ-original topics, while Paper Mario would apply to future Recuts. Following 2020, though, and my decision to soft-reverse my stance on no more recuts, I decided TOK Retold will also get the Mario Story moniker. However, we’re here to talk about what won’t come to pass before talking about what did and what will, so…there.

First off, the partners. 5 new ones- plus a special 6th one- would join the OG game’s Tattler partner, assuming they would be the only partner…AGAIN. Like before, some would take incompatible traits from the OG tattler if I felt it was needed, as well as provide more back-and-forth. Alongside that, 2 past characters would be partners- Super Paper Mario’s Squirps (since he technically was, by all accounts, a partner in his source game), and the Wii U Recut’s Marirana again (with the same story’s Edwin in an NPC side role). 3 of the new partners were new species, while the other 2 would be a Gearmo and a Kleptoad, both female. After so many posts of just words yet no images, I can say I did actually design the female Kleptoad partner, even posting her to my deviantart account without revealing the full nature of her. This is Sachit, who I think was supposed to have a helpful yet grey-shaded ranger persona to her, similar yet different to Edwin before her.

Keep in mind- Sachit’s sprites were designed back at the beginning of 2017, when I was just starting to make higher resolution parts and poses. In addition, I did amuse the idea of just having poses but no parts. While a few hiccups have happened over the years in accidentally posing characters with the source part folder and being forced to backtrack or even start over, I never revisited the idea intentionally. I felt and still feel fans deserve all the parts needed to possibly use for their own characters.

Regarding that 6th “special” partner, long before TOK came out, I was also planning a story twist where one partner who isn’t the tattler…doesn’t make it out of the story, and before the end point, too. Unlike TOK, Recut 3 posited having the vanquished partner replaced with this 6th character, if only to solve previously unsolved obstacles requiring the character’s field ability.

With what TOK actually did, as it turned out, Olivia was not the only partner after all. TOK ended up marking a return of sorts of partners in Mario’s party. Unfortunately, there were many problems with this version of the system. The partners couldn’t be controlled, they missed half their attacks, they couldn’t fight bosses, everyone who wasn’t Olivia was temporary, and only one partner was a full OC, or as full an OC a partner could be with certain needless restrictions revealed prior to the release- Professor Toad, a Toad archaeologist dressed from top to bottom unlike many other Toads in the game. Also, while there WAS some back and forth between Olivia and the partners, Olivia still felt slightly crammed and uncertain in what the characterization was meant to be.

Last, TOK ended up doing the non-tattler perishes before the endgame thing I had planned. While most people ate it up and felt sad about it, as time passed, I came to a realization. That realization- the sacrifice and the partner involved were horribly botched, due to how rushed the partner in question was, and the not-so-innocent meta agenda behind that partner to glorify genericness. Oh, and sitting out a major battle emotionally important to that partner, yet which that partner bafflingly refused to even follow Mario into.

So while an unexpected sacrifice was always destined for Recut 3 and what would turn out to be TOK, it would likely be reworked in a way more pragmatic and sincere than…what we ended up with. Whether the intended sacrifice would outright kick out that lacking partner from the story outright, or that lacking partner would be fully fixed in every regard, it’s hard to say.

For TOK Retold, Olivia getting slightly lightened yet refocused in characterization is still a go, though none of the original partner choices are making it in. The official sacrifice partner is also staying, and getting a giant revamp that not only denies the original alleged "point" (which I never believed had any strength or merit), but posits the opposite. Last, due to a role reversal idea I had regarding the Deeps Sisters, Suebelle is a partner in TOK Retold, with Marirana getting a different role instead…

On unique NPCs, the most interesting official ones to make it in would have been Rosalina, Mister I, the Chimp, Twink and TEC-XX. Meanwhile, in addition to Suebelle and the aforementioned Edwin, CS Recut’s Caapri and Wonder Journey’s Cael would have had a role. With new characters, meanwhile, the sole new Toad would have been a new incarnation of Chet Rippo. More comically, Marirana and Edwin would have been revealed to have sired SIXTEEN children, each with different designs. I even intended to take that number into the hundreds, and include a sidequest where- brace yourselves- Mario and friends would have to find the children across the world to power themselves up in some way! Last up, Perry the Goomba would return in new Bowser armor, alongside three new characters. Like Sachit, I showed these three characters with…a little more of a hint, but not much…hint to their intended future use. To go with the theme of Perry’s new name being based on a form of defense or countering, I made Kowntta the defensive yet loyal female Koopa, Stuunis the bumbling wizard Boo, and Avade the ninja Shy Gal.

These four were the most in the running to be the EX Story’s focus characters, alongside a fourth possibility of CS Recut’s versions of Prism Island’s Rescue Squad.

After TOK came out, Twink and Edwin were still initially slotted to appear in the main story of TOK Retold. However, to appease (honestly unfair) comments that I wasn’t using enough of the source games’ characters for past recuts (I strongly believe I was, though, and that critique assumes the original 3DS and Wii U games were worth honoring with no changes or compromises, which I do not think whatsoever), combined with the restrictions, Twink ended up getting replaced with Bowser Jr so he could have more screentime, while Edwin’s intended role got taken over by the original Yoshi. Meanwhile, despite my desire to have Marirana and Edwin’s kids show up in a role ironically different from the audience townsfolk idea the full game used, the later decision to follow the restrictions put the kibosh on the young Slurple-Boomboxer hybrids and Perry’s squad being able to show up, as well as a good amount of the Prism Island Rescue Squad. Thankfully, I do have someone rather unexpected lined up to be the EX Story’s focus character…but that will have to wait until release.

That’s pretty much all the important stuff regarding what was planned for Recut 3, what happened in TOK’s official release, and the new ideas for TOK Retold. I’m TyrorexDMZapp, and thank you for coming to my TOK Talk.