There Will Be Brawl/YMMV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Alternative Character Interpretation/Paint the Hero Black: Nearly everyone has received a Darker and Edgier makeover, especially Kirby, who incidentally is responsible for the most of the characters changing in the first place. Red is pretty much the only one to be unchanged - if anything, he's even more innocent.
  • Cargo Ship: You upset Lakitu's cloud!
  • Complete Monster: Kirby needs no introduction in regards to this series. He's the reason why the Mushroom Kingdom is so dark and gloomy in the series. He's also responsible for the destruction of his homeland, with Meta Knight and King Dedede being the only known survivors.
  • Crowning Moment of Heartwarming: The exchange between Mario and Luigi in Episode 6:

Luigi: Times have changed. You can't do it alone anymore.
Mario:: Alone...? There are two...Super Mario Brothers.

    • Red's song in Episode Nine if you're not bawling
    • Leaf comforting Paula and giving her a Jigglypuff at the end of ep. 10
    • Another Episode 10 moment: Pauline convincing Diddy Kong to not shoot Mario.
  • Crowning Music of Awesome: Red's aforementioned song at the end of Episode 9.
    • The song at the beginning of Episode 10 - a slower, more serious version of the conventional Brawl theme.
    • The rock remix of the Starman theme, and the music playing throughout the final battle. Actually, most of the soundtrack, both remixes and original themes, is awesome.
    • Aside from being a good Stealth Pun, the remix of Rainbow Road playing in Captain Falcon's gay nightclub is pretty damn catchy.
  • Epileptic Trees: Everyone had a theory as to who the butcher is. Some are a bit loopier than others. The true ending was actually a mix of several of them.
  • Ensemble Darkhorse: Ganondorf basically stole the entire episode when he first appeared. Samus is also very popular, but for different reasons...
    • Different reasons? There are probably quite a few fans out there who would disagree with you on that...
    • Lakitu seems to be becoming another Ensemble Darkhorse, particularly after Episode 6 and the two Breather Episodes.
  • Fight Scene Failure: A lot of them, though the overall effort has a decent execution.
  • Fridge Brilliance: If you're familiar with the history of the games involved, this comes up prominently:
    • Luigi wasn't capable of saving Daisy from Kirby in the backstory; Luigi wasn't playable in the one title (Super Mario Land) where Daisy needed saving.
    • Waluigi references his actual appearances in games in the order he does things, starting first with holding a tennis racket (his first appearance was in Mario Tennis) and then the Mario Party line (his next in-game appearance). A bit after that, Red then asks if Waluigi wants to go play go kart with him, which is the next game he appeared in.
      • Also, he says he has to go to play "Olympics" after giving Red a gift. Another game he also appears.
      • In a related example, this is why Waluigi is portrayed as a mentally challenged man obsessed with games: he's never been in a proper Mario game.
    • In a much more sinister vein, the titular Brawl had its basis laid down due to Kirby's rein as the cannibal, and was kicked into motion with Ness and Lucas' actions as the butcher. HAL Laboratories is responsible for the Kirby games, the MOTHER trilogy, and the Super Smash Bros. series. In fact, if you count Ness as a different character fundamentally than Ninten, Kirby was created first, then Ness, then Lucas, and then the Smash Bros series..
      • One should never forget that the kids are from EarthBound. A game where everything starts looking childish and innocent, but ends up being full of Nightmare Fuel. You could say that it happened to characters of Lucas and Ness themselves. They looked nice at first, but it turned out they were not what they seemed.
      • Actually, it gets far more complicated than that. Some people who worked in the original MOTHER game would later produce Pokémon. Giuege/Giygas ([1]), the big bad of MOTHER, was the inspiration to create Mewtwo ([2]). This ends up being amaizing when you remember that Giygas race was the one who indirectly gave the kids their psychic-powers in the MOTHER/Earthbound, and was later defeated by those kids. That's exactly what Mewtwo (Giygas's spiritual son) did in this series! Fridge Brilliance indeed!
    • "They've been here since the beginning" is said by Olimar when talking about Mr.G&W and R.O.B. If you think about, G&W and R.O.B were one of Nintedo's first creations, and they had practically dissapeared since the 80s'. When did they decide to return? In Super Smash Bros., to kick asses! Therefore, one could say they are not very fond of the other Nintendo characters. Which leads us to the second part of the quote: "and they don't like what they see".
    • While taunting Luigi in Episode 9, Ganondorf tells Luigi that "Captain [Falcon] and I, we're a lot more similar than you think." In the games, Captain Falcon and Ganondorf have the same moveset.
    • Olimar is referred to as End Of Days. This is a reference to the he stars in Pikmin where you have 30 in game days to complete his ship.
      • Also, Olimar's Final Smash in Super Smash Brothers Brawl is "End of Day".
        • Here's one that can be made entirely by accident. Towards the end of the series, Kyle Hebert's beard became noticeably white, creating continuity errors. However, one could argue that Wario knows that the battle is coming and is gradually becoming more and more nervous.
        • This claim could also be offered for Link.
    • Pichu, Roy, and Mewtwo are all killed before we see them in person on-screen. Additionally, there are a few passing references to Mario's failed medical practice. Which characters were cut in the transition from Melee to Brawl?
    • When confronted in the alley way Luigi sees a baseball bat on the ground and uses it during the short battle. Soon after Lucas and Ness appear, the latter of whom isn't carrying around his trademark bat.
    • In episode 9, Captain Falcon mentions that Pit is Samus's younger brother. Kid Icarus and Metroid were designed by the same person, made on the same engine, released on the same day, and even share an enemy (the Metroids/Kometo).
    • When Link talks to Luigi about Dedede's murder, he mentions that forensics found bits of skull like what would be the result of getting hit in the head with blunt force trauma. This doesn't get mentioned further, and Luigi notably leaves it out while trying to profile the killer, but remember, Ness uses a baseball bat....
  • Fridge Horror: "I'm at full health." Where's Navi?
    • Presumably fine, as Link was seen holding a maxim tomato extract syringe.
    • The whole thing is based on the fact that Kirby is pretty damn disturbing when you think about it...
    • At the end Leaf gives a crying orphan (Paula) a Jigglypuff to cheer her up, the one she just used to kill Wario.
    • Who's going to look after Waluigi?
  • Fridge Logic: Why did they censor the koopa in Episode 9 if F Bombs are dropped casually?
    • This is because someone at The Escapist screwed up and forgot that the series was granted exception to the "no F bombs" rule that the site has.
  • Harsher in Hindsight: Knowing what happened to Mercer, Ganondorf's breakdown and death in the finale is very uncomforatable to watch.
    • During the final battle, Pit's wings are ripped off. In Kid Icarus Uprising, Pit's wings are burned off for flying too long, though unlike in Brawl he gets them back.
  • High Octane Nightmare Fuel: Every scene that involves Kirby. MY GOD THE TEETH!!!
    • Forget Kirby. What about the way this show's Olimar treats the Pikmin? Why is somebody like that representing Olimar? Wh--oh right. Pikmin Throw abuse.
    • What about when they show the remains of King Dedede? Or Yoshi's?
      • Ness and Lucas. Oh God, Ness and Lucas! What they did to Peach will haunt my dreams.
      • Not to mention the "trophy gallery", when it's finally revealed what happened to the rest of the bodies after the insides were left behind: stuffed, crudely stitched back together, and put on display. The worst was probably Peach, which was somehow rigged to stand up and spill blood out her mouth.
        • I'm pretty sure that was Ness and Lucas dancing her like a puppet For the Evulz with their psychic powers.
    • There are some especially gruesome scenes in the finale, such as Pit's wings getting ripped off, and Kirby taking a bite out of Luigi's face.
    • Jesus H. Christ...who could forget Ganon bleeding from every orifice from his face under Lucas' and Ness' psychic aura?! I thought those sick fucks were going to go Scanners on him and disembowel him by making him throw up his own guts out!
  • Ho Yay: Lots, the series ships Ike/Marth and Falcon/Pit, among others.
    • There also seems to be something between Samus and Barbara the Bat. It was originally believed to be just the product of Samus's flirtatious attitude in Episode 3, but they're seen holding hands, comforting each other at Red's funeral service, so there may be something to it.
  • HSQ: Episode 10. Full stop.
  • Hype Backlash: The Escapist held an event where members of their website would receive an award if they watched all nine available episodes in the week leading up to the finale in order to hype up the release of the final episode. The episode was eventually posted two weeks later, because The Escapist hadn't consulted with the producers on how long it would take them to edit the final episode, and suddenly announced it a week earlier than planned.
    • See also Executive Meddling for details. The guy's been on bed rest for a while. He damn near killed himself trying to edit the final episode by himself.
  • Magnificent Bastard: Ganondorf is called "The Shadow Don" for a reason.
    • Kirby also qualifies by the end.
      • That would be Miyamoto. Though there have been some WMG's on that very subject, keeping that in mind.
  • Moral Event Horizon: It's hard to really sympathize with Zelda after she stabbed Link and left him for dead.
    • Zelda (who was fairly unlikable anyway) easily falls over the edge, and even the scene-stealing Large Ham Wario flirts with it, for their respective hands in killing Red. Waluigi was technically involved, too, but he probably had no idea what he was doing. The others, not so much.
      • Wario really doesn't get any sympathy. He did it "because he's a survivor." He even tried giving money to Red's GF, hoping that would ease the pain of her loss!
      • And even that was a trick. Look closely and you'll see that Wario was holding a weapon behind his back as he approached Leaf.
      • Kirby crosses this even before the series begins when he massacres Dreamland and the Mushroom Kingdom, his last victim prior to being locked up being Daisy.
  • Special Effects Failure: While most of the costumes and choreography is really good for a webshow, there are a a fair number of awkward moments. Most noticeable, however, is the Donkey Kong costume.
    • The mouth on the actor playing Dedede is clearly visible while he's talking. This isn't helped by the fact the beak doesn't always move properly.
    • In Episode Eight, Link's sheath visibly flaps limply against his arm as he stands up after being knocked.
    • Link's ear prostethics are obviously not part of his normal ears.
  • Squick: The series is FILLED with this, and there's something here for everyone:
    • King Dedede's comment to the stripper Malon: "You're on stage soon, go get Epona." Malon does not look very enthusiastic about this. Given the state of everything else, sure Epona may not be a horse, but that doesn't change the Unfortunate Implications of the line...
    • King Dedede's remains after the Serial Killer gets him.
        • And don't forget the "Trophy Gallery". Dear God in Heaven, the Trophy Gallery!
    • Ganondorf bleeding from everywhere under the kids' influence, and then later his head being chopped off after already having been stabbed by a sword.
    • The final few moments, where it is HEAVILY implied that Kirby killed and ate Ness. How is it implied? Kirby is wearing a very familiar looking bloody baseball cap - just like he would be in Super Smash Bros if he'd swallowed Ness and copied his powers.
  • Take That, Scrappy!: Link's glorious exclamation of "SHUT THE FUCK UP NAVI!" that all of us gamers attempted to do in vain while playing Ocarina of Time.
  • Tear Jerker: Red's death, and the song he plays in the same episode. Hell, the entire ending of Episode 9.
    • Think about this one for a bit, and realise this is the biggest Player Punch the series throws. Narrative-wise, it has no reason to happen. It makes Wario and Ganondorf out as horrible, horrible people, that couldn't possibly be redeemed. ...Except they were already there. If Red didn't die, chances are the rest of the series would have played out exactly the same. ...Well, minus the Rest attack.
      • Red controlled the Pokemon, and as Samus points out, is thus in the safest place in the city. Ganondorf and Wario were just taking out another potential threat, the target was the Pokemon more than Red.
    • Not to mention the flashback right after the final battle, where Luigi remembers the very start of all the chaos, the day the whole mess began. They were still happy and still friends, even though some of them knew the horrors that were about to begin. "This is the last great moment of this kingdom," says Peach wistfully.
    • For this Troper, it was surprisingly the scene showing Wario taking care of Waluigi. Despite who he is, he still shows that he cares for someone.
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