"Waluigi – the Gamma Caste: A Brave New (Mario) World”
November 5, 2017 12:35 PM Subscribe
I aspire to an existence where a listicle of the wildest theories about my life include that a person who looks, dresses, and acts very similarly to me may be related to me, that I'm "just some guy who showed up one day", or perhaps most pulse-pounding, that the most intense scrutinizers of obscure, apocryphal texts and their hidden meanings believe there is a slight chance that I may be a regular, successful person.
posted by Copronymus at 4:10 PM on November 5, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by Copronymus at 4:10 PM on November 5, 2017 [3 favorites]
Based on the fact that I am tall and gangly and the number of times things don't go my way... if and when I find my doppelganger, I'm pretty sure I'm the Waluigi to his Luigi...
except... I can't dance.
posted by Nanukthedog at 5:21 PM on November 5, 2017 [3 favorites]
except... I can't dance.
posted by Nanukthedog at 5:21 PM on November 5, 2017 [3 favorites]
We've explored crazy fan theories like this before. [Previously.]
posted by Fizz at 5:30 PM on November 5, 2017
posted by Fizz at 5:30 PM on November 5, 2017
Waluigi delights me because he's clearly a terrible character, and his characterisation (mostly through Super Mario Strikers, it must be said) doubles down on it, as someone who fundamentally doesn't fit in the candy-coloured all-ages Mario universe. Wario is cartoonishly evil. Waluigi's a prick.
posted by Merus at 6:46 PM on November 5, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by Merus at 6:46 PM on November 5, 2017 [2 favorites]
The thing I've noticed in my life about Waluigi is how the character seems to attract a surprising number of fan-made but unexpectedly-well-formed game concepts from people of a certain creative temperament.
It doesn't seem like that long ago that the idea of Waluigi: Sneak and Love, a game series staring Waluigi as a cupid of sorts, was floating around our collective consciousness. And now Sea of Greed, an open-world pirate exploring game staring the one and same Waluigi, is starting to get some traction. We can only hope when Waluigi does get his own game it will live up to these oddball-yet-strangely-fitting concepts.
I think he hits a kind of sweet spot: he's a little endearing and just the right amount of ridiculous and mysterious to attract a certain kind of like alt fan theory.
posted by Flaffigan at 7:56 PM on November 5, 2017 [2 favorites]
It doesn't seem like that long ago that the idea of Waluigi: Sneak and Love, a game series staring Waluigi as a cupid of sorts, was floating around our collective consciousness. And now Sea of Greed, an open-world pirate exploring game staring the one and same Waluigi, is starting to get some traction. We can only hope when Waluigi does get his own game it will live up to these oddball-yet-strangely-fitting concepts.
I think he hits a kind of sweet spot: he's a little endearing and just the right amount of ridiculous and mysterious to attract a certain kind of like alt fan theory.
posted by Flaffigan at 7:56 PM on November 5, 2017 [2 favorites]
This is great. The mirror/inversion theory makes sense until you think about the name: Waluigi. Wario is Mario with the first letter inverted; Waluigi has an inverted L on his cap, which doesn't have a phonic equivalent in English. So he gets stuck with the crappy tacked-on Wa in front of Luigi, instead of being his own man. Is he a warped version of Luigi? A crappy knockoff of Wario? Truly, a man without a place.
posted by Existential Dread at 8:09 PM on November 5, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by Existential Dread at 8:09 PM on November 5, 2017 [1 favorite]
Just popping in to say I really appreciate this post—and especially because I just went as Waluigi for Halloween!
posted by mr. manager at 10:01 PM on November 5, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by mr. manager at 10:01 PM on November 5, 2017 [1 favorite]
> Waluigi has an inverted L on his cap, which doesn't have a phonic equivalent in English.
Gammauigi
posted by ardgedee at 3:54 AM on November 6, 2017
Gammauigi
posted by ardgedee at 3:54 AM on November 6, 2017
Wario is Mario with the first letter inverted; Waluigi has an inverted L on his cap, which doesn't have a phonic equivalent in English. So he gets stuck with the crappy tacked-on Wa in front of Luigi, instead of being his own man. Is he a warped version of Luigi? A crappy knockoff of Wario? Truly, a man without a place.
IIRC, "wa" is short for "warui", Japanese for "bad", so Wario is a portmanteau of Bad Mario. The fact that Wa- and Ma- rhymes is a good (intended, presumably) pun, and the W/M is just a handy coincidence.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 5:59 AM on November 6, 2017 [7 favorites]
IIRC, "wa" is short for "warui", Japanese for "bad", so Wario is a portmanteau of Bad Mario. The fact that Wa- and Ma- rhymes is a good (intended, presumably) pun, and the W/M is just a handy coincidence.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 5:59 AM on November 6, 2017 [7 favorites]
IIRC, "wa" is short for "warui", Japanese for "bad", so Wario is a portmanteau of Bad Mario. The fact that Wa- and Ma- rhymes is a good (intended, presumably) pun, and the W/M is just a handy coincidence.
It gets better. 類似, pronounced "ruiji," is a Japanese word meaning "similarity, resemblance, the fact of being an analogue; the fact of being similar." So does Luigi have any identity of his own, or is he merely a "ruiji" of his brother Mario?
posted by Faint of Butt at 6:45 AM on November 6, 2017 [7 favorites]
It gets better. 類似, pronounced "ruiji," is a Japanese word meaning "similarity, resemblance, the fact of being an analogue; the fact of being similar." So does Luigi have any identity of his own, or is he merely a "ruiji" of his brother Mario?
posted by Faint of Butt at 6:45 AM on November 6, 2017 [7 favorites]
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posted by GenjiandProust at 3:44 PM on November 5, 2017 [11 favorites]