WMG / Tetris

The whole thing is an abstract metaphor for Death Note

• The S-shaped piece is a shinigami.
• The I-shaped piece is Kira, because it "kills" several lines.
• The L-shaped piece is the L.
• The T-shaped piece is the Tokyo police.

One of the pieces displays Obfuscating Stupidity

The L-block is running a Gambit Roulette. It all fits together in the end.

The L-shaped piece is a Captain Ersatz of the Knight in Chess.

The real reason the Soviet Union fell...

Is because between Tetris, Zerg Rushing Hitler, and putting a man in orbit, the Soviet leaders realized that their nation had fulfilled its purpose.

Tetris is a mind-control device created by the Soviet government.

It didn't name The Tetris Effect for nothing. Tetris has no real right to be as addictive as it. Instead of watching the news, educating yourself, or meeting girls, you were playing Tetris, which has no Real Life application. Tetris was invented to weaken the United States, one citizen at a time, making it easier to take over in 20 or 30 years.

• The Tetris Effect is not what you think it is. You weren't playing Tetris instead of those; you were playing in your mind while doing those. This is pivotal to the mind-control device.
• Unfortunately Tetris weakened the Soviet Union faster than it weakened America. The Soviet Union fell first because of this and the rest of the world will collapse in 2012.
• The Ancient Mayans knew about Tetris because they had a primitive version of it that ultimately led to the collapse of their empire. They simply predicted its re-emergence.

All of the blocks are sentient and have lives outside of making lines

This is just their day job. They're all a group of friends and coworkers whose job it is to make walls out of lines. Sometimes they have off-days and they miss a couple of bricks.

Tetris is

The very lowest level of hell.Think about it. It's for the very worst people, the serial killer rapist arsonist litterers of the land. People are turned into Tetris blocks and forced to eternally make lines. If the screen fills up, they are taken away to be tortured.

Tetris is a way of casting spells

• Confirmed, perhaps. Tetris Worlds cut scenes establish that Tetris is a way of opening a Cool Gate to emergency backup planets.
  • In Puyo Puyo Tetris, Tetris is seen as an equivalent to Puyo Puyo, which is magic in that universe.

Tetris is a metaphor

• ... For capitalism:
  • Numerous disparate blocks of all shapes and sizes trying to work together, wouldn't it be better if they were all built the same way?
  • No matter what you do, the construction will keep collapsing from underneath you, symbolizing both the futility of attempting social progress in a capitalist plutocracy and the inevitable revolution of the underclasses, tearing the old society down from the bottom up.
• ... For communism:
  • Numerous disparate blocks of all shapes and sizes trying to work together under a single goal, with a single mindset, wouldn't it be better if they all had the opportunity to pick their own puzzle?
  • No matter what you do, the construction will keep collapsing from underneath you, symbolising both the futility of trying to make something for yourself in a communist hellhole and the inevitable collapse as the now downtrodden masses tear the old society down from the bottom up.

Tetris is creating rocket fuel

• NES Tetris has three block colors, two tetrominoes of two colors, and three tetrominoes of the third color. The composition of rocket fuel? A (presumably complex) compound, and an oxidizer.

The pieces in Tetris 99 are falling from the Battle Bus.

• I'm sorry.

The Tetriminos are Time Lords

And clearing lines is how they activate their TARDIS.

The second phase of the Big Block DLC is a Grand Master mode.

• Come on Arika, you can stop teasing us with mere TGM references now.

Upcoming Maximus Cups for Tetris 99.

• May 2020: Animal Crossing: New Horizons. This game blew up in a way that even Nintendo likely didn't expect, but this should be enough time for them to put together a skin based on the game.
  • Confirmed (12 to 18 May 2020).
• June 2020: Xenoblade Chronicles 1. It would be right after the Definitive Edition comes out.
• July 2020: Ninjala. This game has been promoted a fair bit by Nintendo itself, and with the game delayed to late June, this would be a good way to continue building excitement for it shortly after its release. It would also be the first third-party skin, and I can see it coming since Nintendo supports it so heavily.
  • Jossed.
• August 2020: Paper Mario: The Origami King. Lots of potential in what can be made into a Tetris 99 skin with this one, though there would be some overlap with the "Fancy" skin, which is already papercraft-themed. Certainly, the skin themed on Fire Emblem: Three Houses shows Intelligent Systems will allow Tetris 99 skins, so a Paper Mario theme is not too far off.
• February 2021: Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury. This is the biggest release from Nintendo for the month.
• April 2021: New Pokémon Snap. They manage to get approval from The Pokémon Company for Pokémon Sword and Shield; they could pull it off here too.
• Summer 2021: Puyo Puyo. This would be a cross promotion with Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 once the last DLC comes out for that game.
• Late 2021: Metroid Prime 4. Assuming it's released for the holidays, but Retro Studios would almost certainly need more time.
• April 2022: Kirby and the Forgotten Land. Pretty much every new Kirby game has also received a Tetris 99 skin, so I don't see why this one wouldn't.
• May 2022: Nintendo Switch Sports. This is the biggest release on the Switch for April 2022.
• July 2022: Mario Strikers Battle League. There are a lot of Mario skins, but this one has a different art style to differentiate itself.
• November 2022: Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. Most skins are made available about one month after the game's release, but Pokémon skins come out shortly before it. As Pokémon Sword and Shield got one, as did Pokémon Legends: Arceus, both of them a few weeks before release, I predict this one would too.
• 2023: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2. We're already long overdue for a Zelda-themed skin.

---