YMMV / Supermarioglitchy4's Super Mario 64 Bloopers

YMMV Items with their own Subpages:

• Base-Breaking Character
• Broken Base
• Catharsis Factor
• Crosses the Line Twice
• Ensemble Dark Horse
• Fanfic Fuel
• Franchise Original Sin
• Harsher in Hindsight
• Hilarious in Hindsight
• I Knew It!
• Memetic Mutation
• Moral Event Horizon
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!
• They Wasted A Perfectly Good Character
• They Wasted A Perfectly Good Plot

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A-C

• Abandon Shipping:
  • Meggy x Axol shippers largely abandoned ship when Melony came into the picture and Axol's crush on her was made clear.
  • The very small subset of fans that shipped Melony and Niles entirely abandoned ship once the latter was revealed to be Zero and entirely in Melony's head.
• Accidental Innuendo: Niles's wording when he finds SMG0 so they can fuse again is a little... suspect.
  Niles: Hey Zero, how you been? Ready to get back together?
• Adorkable:
  • SMG4, of the badass variety.
  • Mario is pretty adorable, for a sociopathic dumbass.
  • So is Bowser, Especially when hitting on Princess Peach.
  • Fishy Boopkins is shy, geeky, and very cute.
  • Meggy, particularly when she's just learning what Christmas is, or how to cook.
  • Tari fits this to a tee. She's a shy Gamer Chick that's also very friendly.
  • Even SMG3 falls under this when it comes to his reaction to his many failures.
  • Whimpu counts because he's an utter nerd, very cowardly, and is designed to be Saiko's opposite.
• Accidental Nightmare Fuel: Zero may be terrifying, but in a cool way. The thing is, his ragdoll is comprised of two parts: his flesh and his bones. Removing his bones makes him appear arguably scarier than his actual appearance.
• Alas, Poor Scrappy:
  • Even people who hated Desti were shocked to see her die at the hands of Francis' false Sephiroth.
  • Say what you will about Princess Peach post-Anime Arc for her nonstop nagging and Hair-Trigger Temper over the Glitchy Gang's antics. Not even she deserved what's happened to her between "It's Gotta Be Perfect" and "Let's Go Visit Peach". The Glitchy Gang and Mushroom Kingdom military failed even to consider rescuing Peach from the Eldritch Location that her castle had become (because of SMG4's demonic keyboard), leaving her down there for FOUR MONTHS in real life time. By the time ANYONE bothers to go down into the crater, Peach has mutated into a spider demon due to overexposure. Similar to the viewers, both Mario and SMG3 are horrified about it and call themselves out over it.
• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Is Mario really an idiotic, greedy jerk? Or is it all Obfuscating Stupidity to deceive his foes? Videos such as “Mario Alone” seem to be the latter.
  • Tari recognizes Francis from Mario's thought bubble in "Mario's Lemonade Stand". Is she a psychic? Considering her powers in Meta Runner, it doesn't seem out of the question.
  • How truthful is Desti's claim that she still hates Meggy in "Mario And The Experiment"? Is she telling the truth that she's only helping to humiliate her with the fact that she saved her life, or is she simply trying to mask that she is growing attached to her and SMG4's crew?
  • In the Anime Arc, was Peach A Nazi by Any Other Name who wanted all anime, including Saiko, out of the kingdom, or was she a well-intentioned Moral Guardian doing this for the safety of the Mushroom Kingdom and its citizens after Bob destroyed her castle due to anime?
    • People view Bob as the true villain of the Anime Arc as he was the one who destroyed Peach's castle and caused her to ban anime in the first place.
    • Following Peach's Flanderization in later bloopers, is Peach just a natural bitch who's upset with everything, or is she upset over the fact that she was kicked out of the main gang in favor of Meggy, Saiko, and Tari, and uses her bitchiness to take out her jealousy?
  • In "Meggy Moves In", did Meggy move to the Mushroom Kingdom just to be closer to her friends, or did she leave because the Fantastic Racism against humans made it all but impossible for her to keep living there? Moreover, was it her decision to move, or was she run out of Inkopolis by racists like the leader of Killer Inksquad?
  • Is Zero really an omnicidal monster who could stand out as the only pure evil in the entire series? Or is he a misunderstood tortured soul whose goals are genuinely well-intentioned? It likely is the former, but countless fans may believe it’s the latter. Turns out, it’s the latter.
  • Some fans have speculated that the reason it took Melony so long to get back to creating her Manga art^{For context}After the events of the Genesis Arc, Melony opted to finish Axol's manga to honor his memory. The plot point was addressed in the following Revelations Arc, then mysteriously dropped for nearly a year until it was finally brought back in "Mario Goes On Death Row" was because she was having writer's block. This interpretation is particularly brought up among SMG4 fanfic writers going through similar struggles.
• Angst? What Angst?:
  • When Meggy finds out Mario and Bob turned her home into a hotel while she was on vacation, she was nowhere near as pissed at them as the fans thought she was going to be.
  • Following Axol's death in WOTFI 2021, almost no one is really upset about it aside from Melony. This was likely because the grieving was done offscreen during the timeskip, so the rest of the main cast were able to move on by then. This nonetheless came off as jarring to the fanbase, with many criticizing how Desti's death had a huge impact on the main cast (especially Meggy) and the series while Axol in comparison became a near non-entity once he was gone, not even being mentioned by name again until the Revelations movie.
  • With all of the crazy events in 2023, the gang is quick to move on from whatever big event occurs; the mourning for Peach's Castle is brief, and everyone becomes excited planning their new one. Additionally, when Meggy has to come to terms with Oneshot Wren's actions in "WESTERN SPAGHETTI", she only dwells on it in the film, and is back to normal by the end.
• Anti-Climax Boss:
  • Many times, instead of facing the main antagonists of a video in a climactic battle, they get taken out rather easily or are pacified through non-violent means.
  • Waluigi at the end of his arc. Despite how much of a threat he was to everyone (being powerful enough to cause a zombie apocalypse and brainwash a Reality Warper), one punch was all it took to break his staff and release the T-pose zombies from Waluigi's control. This was followed by him being depowered completely after a brief rap battle and making amends with Wario.
• Arc Fatigue:
  • Meggy's Character Arc gradually became wrought with this. 2019's "Meggy's Bootcamp" first revealed that she still hadn't won a Splatfest since her debut in 2017, retroactively making this subplot already nearly 2 years long. After the Anime Arc's Bait-and-Switch and another year of constantly teasing it, Meggy's Destiny would bring an end to this chapter. After this, many thought her development was over, only for her to enter a state of depression following her big win, with her arc now becoming about finding her new purpose. Many were already tired when this next chapter began for her, but the fanbase only grew more weary of Meggy's arc as it continued into 2022, with some even calling her character arc a case of Moving the Goalposts with how her goals keep changing. The end doesn't seem to be anywhere in sight, and fans often point out that there's nothing preventing the crew from arbitrarily prolonging her arc further or invalidating her development (as some feel was done to Meggy's Destiny) just to keep her relevant.
  • The SMG4 Cosmology Saga is by far the longest story on the channel outside of subplots. Fans already started feeling fatigue as early as halfway into Genesis as it quickly surpassed the already infamously long Anime Arc as the longest arc, but its developments continuing into Revelations made some fans grow weary of it fast, not helped by filler becoming much more prevalent than it had been in past arcs.
• Archive Panic: SMG4's been making videos since 2011, and he's accumulated hundreds of videos with no sign of stopping anytime soon. Add to that the many additional series that aren't considered bloopers (Mail Times, Guards N' Retards, and the videos on TheAwesomeMario) and there are well over a hundred hours of content to get through. Adding onto this is the increased use of original characters and the videos going towards higher levels of the Sliding Scale of Continuity on occasion making it harder to simply pick and choose videos like in the past.
• Ass Pull:
  • The end of the Anime arc brought 2 of the biggest ones in the series history:
    • Desti's death being permanent gets a lot of flak for being this as it wasn't foreshadowed in the least and the cause of the death is extremely tame compared to injuries every other character has suffered and survived. Many fans at the time believed that the death was just a deliberate fake-out for dramatic effect because of this and were surprised when it turned out to be for real.
    • Meggy turning into a human due to the Ink Zuccer sucking out all her ink. As this directly contradicts Inkling canon, many see it as a flimsy in-story reason to make her human.
  • "A Totally Normal SMG4 Episode" revealing that the main cast's deletions in "Deleted..." actually only sent them to the Internet Graveyard, with the only explanation being that SMG3 didn't know how to properly use the YouTube Remote. As "Deleted..." and this episode made it out like the cast had been Ret-Goned until that point, with no foreshadowing toward the twist, it feels like a contrived way to allow the main cast to come back entirely unscathed. Boopkins in particular was egregious as he and his past self were both sucked into a black hole, making him getting sent there even more questionable than the rest.
  • Meggy deciding to become a sports teacher upon returning from her vacation was seen as this, as not only was "boxing coach" one of the jobs she failed at in "Mario VS YouTubers", but Sunset Paradise seemed to be setting her on the path to becoming a super hero, with no indication sports was going to play a part in her decision until right as she announces her new profession to Mario, leaving some disappointed with the culmination of her 4-month long subplot. Not helping is Mario suggesting, and Meggy outright shooting down, super hero.
  • "MARIO'S OKAY" revealing that the SMGs have meme manipulation powers. Before this point, there isn't any indication that any of them have this ability, and the reveal itself brings up the question of why SMG1 and SMG2 didn't use or mention it in the 10th anniversary movie during the corrupted meme fight since WOTFI 2021 shows it works on them too, making it obvious that it was only written in after the fact.
  • Niles being an entirely different individual from SMG0, along with the related reveal that "Zero" is a fusion of both characters. Until the Revelations movie, all evidence seemed to suggest that SMG0 was the true villain of the Cosmology Saga. There was nothing to suggest that the real villain was an entirely different character and the only instance of foreshadowing before this reveal is in the very movie that reveals it, which only becomes clear if one already knows the twist after the fact.
  • How Lawyer Kong was defeated. You may have noticed that SMG4's Arc Villains tend to receive very harsh punishments for their cruel actions, whether it's losing everything they worked hard for, being banished to another dimension, or death. So naturally, viewers were expecting a similar outcome for Lawyer Kong once the court inevitably rules in SMG4's favor. Does Miyamoto fire him for abusing the DMCA? Does he warrant a taste of his own medicine and get canonized by his own firewall? Nope! He flat-out gives up and quits lawyering. This comes across as quite Out of Character for someone who has proven himself to be ridiculously petty when it comes to upholding copyright law, pulling every dirty trick in the book to get his way and doing anything to enact revenge on those who did him wrong. Some people thought that Lawyer Kong would at least make one last attempt to ruin our heroes' lives before he takes his leave. Better yet, while SMG4 and 3 do get redesigns like many fans predicted, some expected Lawyer Kong would be the one to force this agreement, not Miyamoto. That's not even getting into the nonsensical (even by SMG4's standards) reveal that he's actually THE Funky Kong, who apparently decided to get into the law firm for... reasons.
  • While some guessed that SMG4's temporary IP design from "If Mario Was In Splatoon 3" was gonna become permanent and that SMG3 would change to not break the lore, Bob and Boopkins' redesigns got a lot of flak for coming completely out of nowhere and having zero foreshadowing at all. Many also believe that, since Nintendo Australia is noticeably less strict than its American HQ, redesigning them at all was unnecessary, especially since SMG4 wasn't actually getting DMCA'd. Luke justified his decision by stating his fear of potentially getting DMCA'd for real one day.
• Awesome Ego: Bob, who has named TWO (fictional) holidays after himself, has blades for hands, and is one of the more popular side characters in the series.
• Awesome Music: The few times that the show generates original lyrics or even the music itself tends to stand out a lot, and just to name a few...
  • Mario and SMG4's rap battle at the end of "War of the Fat Italians 2017". The additional lyrics by Luigi, Fishy Boopkins, E. Gadd, Meggy, and Bob(?) are awesome, too.
  • The climax of War Of The Fat Italians 2018 and the finale of the Waluigi arc: The whole cast brutally roasting Waluigi to a remix of Picture Perfect that’s truly fire, with everyone involved having incomparably improved rapping skills since WotFI 2017.
  • Darkest Hour is the essence of "Reason You Suck" Speech sung by Saiko of all people directed towards Bob, and it's apparently so great that In-Universe, Saiko ends up taking all of Bob's fame. Even more awesome when you realize that this is the very first song composed specifically for SMG4.
  • WOTFI 2020's Rap Battle, which starts with the two opposing casts fighting each other before they team up against SMG3. Meggy's solo is a particularly shining moment courtesy of Lizzie Freeman.
  • WOTFI 2021's Rap Battle (officially named "Zero") has the most Animesque style ever. You can just feel the tension whenever Zero seems to have the upper hand or whenever the heroes manage to make a comeback. Then there's Mario after SMG3 and SMG4 trigger his Heroic Second Wind.
  • Saikosis, the song that Saiko and Kaizo unite to play at the climax of "The Meme Games 2022", is an amazingly powerful rock song strong enough to grant the rest of the cast the strength they need to take Mario down.
  • WOTFI 2022’s Rap Battle (officially named "OBJECTION!") has an incredibly badass orchestral instrumental with perfectly flowing vocals, as well as several segments loaded with Continuity Nods to past videos.
  • While the rap for WOTFI 2023 is more of a song than a rap, it's fast paced and keeps you on your toes. At one point, Mario, SMG4 and SMG3 have an argument in time with a pretty sick rhythm.
• Badass Decay:
  • Meggy started out as a near-invincible Action Girl who could effectively win almost any fight. However, over time she gradually lost her badass traits as she underwent her Character Development, becoming more relatable and flawed at the cost of her badassery.
  • Mario has underwent this as well, due to the girls doing most of the combat in the later videos.
  • Following the Genesis arc, fans picked up on the main cast not being nearly as competent in battle as they were before. The gang frequently lost fights they partook in and characters that were previously One-Man Army incarnate were hampered from being that again, best shown with "Mario's Bus Trip" seeing the gang unable to defeat a group of bears without Fierce Diety Melony. Many felt that this "blanket nerf" was done in order to justify Melony's subplot of needing to become stronger.
    • Likewise, Melony goes from being able to slice and dice through dozens of recolored Marios in the 10th anniversary movie to being unable to use her powers properly at all in order to justify said subplot. Despite breaking out of this, post-Revelations saw her fall back into this hard due to suffering a particularly nasty losing steak^note losing against Luigi in "MARIO BALLIN" despite being in her Fierce Deity form, not doing anything during the Lawsuit arc, sleeping through ITS GOTTA BE PERFECT and losing offscreen to Luigi.exe in "Every Luigi is Personalized".
• Best Known for the Fanservice: "Mario's Mask Of Madness" will probably always be remembered for Melony's transformation.
• Better on DVD: The arcs tend to get this once their initial runs have ended. The Anime and Genesis arcs get this the most, as they're the longest and got flak for their length while they were ongoing.
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: The unveiling of Zero's true form ultimately became this. In WOTFI 2021, Zero arrives in front of the main cast as his true form before turning back into Ax0l a few seconds later, with no indication that his true form is really there when it should be in the various Guardian Pods and no one really commenting on it other than SMG4 reacting with horror for a moment. It's likely the reveal was done this way because the team wanted Zero's true form to be shown in some way before the Genesis arc ended.
• Bizarro Episode:
  • Deliberate with "Tale of a Bob-omb", one of SMG4's first sob-story episodes. Keep in mind it was made back during the series' early years, when genuinely serious and sad moments were a rarity.
  • While nearly all SMG4 episodes are crazy in some way, "Uncanny Mr. Mario" may just take the cake. The episode features Mario in a Lotus-Eater Machine that changes the format of the episode itself. The initial run ends with him discovering that he and his friends aren't real and being Driven to Suicide. The second time he's put in the simulation features increasingly random glitches as a result of the machine getting damaged. Finally, the whole thing turns out to be a plot by Mr. Incredible to have Mario take his place as the character Uncanny memes are portrayed by. Many fans likened the episode to a Medium Awareness existential horror story.
  • While "Clown Fever" has a plot that's no more wacky and nonsensical than any other video on the channel (Mario and SMG4 try to solve the mystery of why everyone is suddenly turning into insane clowns), it is very oddly framed as though it were the start of a new arc, including ending on a Downer Ending that isn't Played for Laughs wherein everyone (including SMG4, but except for Mario) is now a clown and it's heavily implied that Mario and SMG4's actions have only succeeded in turning Depresso evil. However, a new arc was never started; instead the next video released ("If Mario Was the Last Man On Earth") played out as though the events of "Clown Fever" never happened (everyone is back to normal and Depresso is a harmless clown again with no explanation) and to date no other videos made since have mentioned the events of "Clown Fever". (The actual next arc, the Lawsuit Arc, would start later the same year.)
• Can't Un-Hear It:
  • If you've watched SMG4, it's hard to play Mario games and not imagine the Spike enemies with Kevin's goofy Boopkins voice.
  • Same with The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, the Garo enemies' dialogue is always read in the WillFromAfar text-to-speech voice.
  • SMG4's policemen will always be associated with Sgt. Anous' voice and their signature Catchphrase: "STOP RIGHT THERE!"
• Captain Obvious Reveal:
  • To some, the revelation in "The Mario Concert" that Bob orchestrated the events of "Mario And...The Well" and "Mario and the Bob Mansion" didn't come off as a huge surprise. Go back to those videos and you'll find strong hints that indicate something fishy^note No pun intended about Bob's kindness. In the former video, Bob showed off his SoundCloud page immediately after his rescue, and in the latter video, Bob took his home being destroyed a little too well, to say nothing of his friends not finding humor in his "joke" about exploiting it.
  • Zero being SMG0 was a conclusion practically the entire fanbase came to following the 10th anniversary special, due to SMG1 and SMG2, who refer to him as Zero, also calling SMG4 and SMG3 "4" and "3". Tellingly, the arc doesn't even bother trying to hide this, with the cast referring to Zero as such as early as "SMG4 Goes Insane" with no fanfare or big revelation. The real mystery lies in the Revelations movie, where we find out the real SMG0 was merged with Niles to become Zero.
  • It was pretty obvious to fans that Niles was related to Zero, based on his name sounding like "nil", which is another way of saying "zero", and his hands looking near-identical to Zero's, among other things.
  • When SMG4 announced that WOTFI 2022 would create, in his words, a "turning point" for the series, it was pretty obvious that he meant his avatar being changed to an Original Character, along with that of SMG3. The twist was obvious for various reasons: the design was previously foreshadowed in an earlier arc episode, SMG4 has stated in the past that he wanted to change his avatar someday, and permanent body changes have become a recurring thing with WOTFI and other special events at this point, when they're not killing someone off instead. That being said, the redesigning of Bob and Fishy Boopkins was met with less discussion in the fanbase, as most on the subject just focused on SMG4 and 3.
• Cargo Ship:
  • Mario x spaghetti of course. He even names one "Sarah".
    • Mario x the Companion Cube from "If Mario Was In...Portal" would also qualify.
  • SMG4 x his computer (sometimes)
  • Fishy Boopkins x his Hatsune Miku dakimakura (among others).
  • Shy Guy x toast.
  • The Villager x Doritos.
  • Chica x pizza.
  • Meggy x instant noodles, thanks to "Meggy Moves In".
  • Rob x Corn, best shown in "Food Wars".
    Rob (lying suggestively on a piece of candy corn): "Watch me get this video demonitised."
• Character Perception Evolution:
  • Bob started out as a pathetic friendless loser fans felt sympathy for. Once he was given more jerkish qualities, he became more divisive, with many either loving this turn or hating it. It wasn't until 2021 that Bob started garnering a reputation for being one of the best characters in SMG4. Much of this has to do with him being one of the only jerkish main cast members left in a cast now mostly filled with nice people, and many considering him a perfect blend of the Classic and Modern eras of SMG4 personified. It's likely no coincidence that he saw an uptick in appearances around this time.
  • Meggy started out loved by practically everyone due to how different she was from other characters, her Odd Friendship with Mario and her badassery. Many wanted her to return and were overjoyed when "MARIO'S CHALLENGE" saw that desire obliged. However, her character gradually became divisive from then on due to Hype Backlash, her increasing focus and the controversial shipping wars surrounding her. 2019 would see her popularity implode thanks to her handling and massive character overhaul brought with the Anime arc, moving her from fairly divisive to severely so. Over time, the fanbase slowly leaned more toward negative once it became clear she wasn't going to go back to being an Inkling, her temporary irritable nature in "Meggy's Bootcamp" became her default personality, her traits that made her unique became less so and her negative character traits started to overshadow her positive ones. Nowadays, she's become seen as a shadow of what she once was, and is the series most divisive character by a country mile.
• Character Rerailment:
  • While it doesn't last long, "Stupid Mario 3D World" undoes most of Peach's Flanderization and Bowser's Villain Decay.
  • "If Mario Was In... Anime" does this for Axol, first by acknowledging his change In-Universe, then by having Inkweaver getting repaired at the end of the video, setting him on the path to reclaim his title as the #1 manga artist. If only if he had lasted that long...
  • Following a period where Meggy seemed more impatient with Mario's antics, and at times even irrationally hostile towards him, the Lawsuit Arc and subsequent episodes started focusing more on Meggy's more sweet and genuine Odd Friendship with Mario that helped make her such a beloved character in the first place. This is especially apparent in "POV: You're Mario", where Meggy's newfound understanding and acceptance of Mario's stupidity is taken as a major Catharsis Factor.
• Cliché Storm: Some fans have given this sentiment about the videos since late 2018 compared to the old ones, which were more unpredictable and original.
• Common Knowledge:
  • Following the big reveal of "Absolute Betrayal", calls of Axol's death being All for Nothing became heavily rampant, mostly from those that were upset with it to begin with. This is ignoring that it had been the only established way of stopping Zero from winning during WOTFI 2021 and that even if his revival through Fierce Deity Melony negated that, it still delayed his plans for 5 months, and it still doesn't guarantee that he would succeed either. Sure enough, Zero unambiguously meets his end in the next episode as he's trapped inside the exploding God Box and calmly accepts his demise.
  • Around the time SML got a C&D from Nintendo, many who heard of the news became concerned that SMG4 could potentially be subjected to something similar. While SMG4 does use the Mario brand, they don't monetize anything from the franchise. While also having crude humor and line-crossing jokes, which was another supposed big reason for the C&D, SMG4 isn't nearly as bad as SML in that regard. A big reason why the Lawsuit arc became so contentious was because it seemed to be finally putting this misconception to rest, only to end by turning four Nintendo-based characters into OCs, explicitly out of concern that Nintendo would DMCA the channel for real. Many pointed out the irony of the whole arc accurately explaining why the channel doesn't infringe copyright law only to redesign characters out of fear of it happening anyway, leading to many feeling that GLITCH fell for their own fanbase's fearmongering.
• Continuity Lockout: Ever since around 2018, the series has been falling more and more into this. Nowadays, even some episodes that aren't part of story arcs might be, and/or need, required viewing. The Waluigi arc, being the first, is really the only exception.
  • The Rapper Bob arc downplays this. Its finale ties into the Waluigi arc, but the arc itself isn't actually necessary to watch on its own thanks to having no major effect on the status quo.
  • "Mario Goes To The Fridge To Get A Glass Of Milk" and "Mario's Prison Escape", of all videos, both lead semi-directly into the Anime arc.
  • The Cosmology Saga takes this up to eleven. The Genesis arc picks up after the YouTube arc. In order to understand SMG3's motivations in part one of the YouTube arc, you would first need to watch both the 10-part Waluigi arc (for the backstory of SMG3's talk show) and the standalone "A Day In The Life Of Everyone" (for the cancellation of said show). There's also multiple videos released during the saga that directly connect to the story despite not being in the playlist.
    • Hey wait, who's that watermelon-girl with godly powers that Axol's crushing on? Guess you'll have to watch "Mario Alone", the YouTube arc and "Mario's Mask Of Madness" for the full context.
  • Meggy's Character Arc practically requires that you watch most of her appearances in order to completely understand it. At bare minimum, you'll need to view "If Mario Was In Splatoon", "If Mario Was In Splatoon 2", the entire 12-part Anime arc, Meggy's Destiny, "Mario vs YouTubers", "The Pursuit of Happiness" and Sunset Paradise.
• Creator's Pet:
  • Fishy Boopkins, mostly from 2017-2018. Frankly, there's no way you avoid this trope once the main writer (Kevin) singles you out as his favorite character, not helped by the fact that he also voices Boopkins. In addition to having a big role in the first 3 story arcs, his trait of being an otaku was upped to rather grating levels of second-hand embarrassment starting in 2017, and this sometimes made him come across as more annoying than entertaining. He escaped this once his importance to plots lessened a great deal after the Rapper Bob arc and he became Out of Focus.
  • Meggy has been accused of being this though her entire tenure as a character, whether it be when she was an Inkling or a human^{Full List}Having no negative qualities at first (leading to her being called a "Mary Sue" by her detractors), becoming the most focused and developed character at the cost of everyone else's development and screentime (by Luke and Kevin's own admission), being near-consistently portrayed as more competent than the rest of the cast, rarely suffering slapstick or injuries, getting merch, becoming a full OC thanks to her humanization, “Boys vs Girls” being a big showing of her favoritism, getting a big voice actor to voice her starting in WOTFI 2020, getting her own Spin-Off series and getting a livestream sub-series dedicated to her.. While her fellow Power Trio members Saiko and Tari have received claims of being this from time to time, Meggy is the only one to consistently get these complaints.
  • Melony started off similar to early Meggy in terms of popularity, but as she quickly rose in prominence, she started to get calls of being this, mostly from people that already didn't like Meggy, due to fans beginning to see very similar parallels to Meggy in how she was being utilized and written. Like Boopkins, she fell out of this somewhat after Revelations.

D-I

• Designated Monkey:
  • Part of why "Tubbie TV" was such a controversial episode at release was for its treatment of Mario which, unlike most other instances, was entirely unprovoked and unwarranted. Some feel that Mario has become this in general starting in late 2021, as this treatment has become much more common.
  • Many feel that Axol became this big time after the Anime arc. Many of his appearances usually had situations happen at his expense, something many retroactively picked up on as the Genesis arc went on. A big reason his death was so contentious was because it came right as it looked like his long string of misfortune would finally be coming to an end.
• Epileptic Trees:
  • "The Day HE Arrived" was originally released under the title of "The Beginning Of The End". The title alone sent a good chunk of the fanbase into a panic, believing that the Genesis Arc would serve as the Grand Finale, despite plenty of evidence to the contrary as pointed out in this r/SMG4 post. The episode title got changed to its current one less than a week later.
  • After "Absolute Betrayal", many have begun to theorize that Niles was who Zero was before whatever event caused him to turn into the villain he is today.
  • A lot of fans have come up with the theory that every arc villain represents one of the Seven Deadly Sins, with Waluigi being Wrath, Bob or Lawyer Kong being Greed, Francis being Lust, SMG3 being Envy and Niles being Gluttony or Pride. There’s also some people who consider the Box Club Leader or Peach to be Sloth.
• Esoteric Happy Ending: "Boys vs Girls" ends with the boys being forced to apologize to the girls, who then subject the boys to a hunting game and beat them before finally accepting that they're even. This was seen by the fanbase as the Unintentionally Unsympathetic girl trio being allowed a total win over the boys, making the ending come off as insult to injury rather than the deserved punishment it was meant to be portrayed as.
• Evil Is Cool:
  • Zero has gained fans, for actually being a much darker villain than anyone else in the series (yes, even Francis), having pretty awesome abilities and a really badass singing voice in WOTFI 2021.
  • One-Shot Wren has quickly become considered one of, if not the best Arc Villain in the series due to how well acted and genuinelly unsettling the character and their actions are.
  • Mr. Puzzles is also considered a good villain, with many viewers actually giving his Puzzlevision episodes 5 stars.
• Fanart at First Sight: You'd be surprised how fast Mr. Puzzles^note then just called the TV Adware got a fan model following the conclusion of War of the Fat Italians 2023. Usually, characters that don't have their models officially released get one made by the fan community after a few weeks or so following their debut, provided they don't take longer... but this guy got his made after just two days.
• Fan Nickname:
  • Before the canonical name was revealed, Shroomy's demon hunter side, Anti-Shroomy, had many nicknames like Bluey, Doomy, The Doom Shroom, etc.
  • Melony (a watermelon with Meggy's beanie and headphones) was often called "Melly" by fans before its official name was revealed.
  • Ax0l, for the 0-possessed Axol from the Genesis arc. This name eventually made it into canon, as the subtitle for his lines in "The Final Piece".
  • Because the TV Adware that sold SMG4 his demonic keyboard in "IT'S GOTTA BE PERFECT" isn't given a name, many fans have taken a liking to calling it "Winston". After some more information was provided via a leak, the fans changed the name to "Terry", even after it was revealed that the leak was actually talking about Tari. Come "Mario's Mysteries", his name would be revealed to be Mr. Puzzles.
• Fandom-Enraging Misconception:
  • Insisting that the "classic" (2011-16) bloopers are nothing but Values Dissonance can cause anger from older fans, especially considering 5 out of 6 of the channel's most popular videos are from that era, and, aside from the occasional line and the R64 sub-series' title, are perfectly harmless when it comes to dated humor. In addition, the dated humor wasn't just limited to the classic era, as slurs and jokes that are now considered dated and/or offensive were still made all the way up to 2018 ("Guards N' Retards: Da bomb" and "Lost in the Woods" being just 2 examples), so claiming that only the classic era had these jokes and is bad for it can also garner criticism.
  • While Tari has an Alternate Universe counterpart in Meta Runner, Meta Runner is not a Spin-Off of SMG4 - it's actually the opposite, as SMG4's Tari was solely created as a teaser for Meta Runner prior to its release. She became a major character due to fan popularity.
  • On the flip side, if SMG4 was your first introduction to the Mario series, don't think Spike is canonically named "Fishy Boopkins" or think that any of the Original Characters such as Tari, Saiko, and Shroomy are official Mario characters around Mario fans.
  • Don't assume that SMG4 started the idea of Super Mario 64 machinima bloopers. They were done years before SMG4 came along. Also, don't assume that X, FM, MarioMario54321, and the like are original characters; they are real Mario 64 machinimists who also use Palette Swaps of Mario as their Author Avatar.
• Fandom Rivalry: With SuperMarioLogan, due to them both being web series that take very different approaches in taking the main Mario cast and expanding their world. Expect to see an argument on who's better at least once, especially after Logan's run-ins with YouTube and Nintendo.
• Fandom VIP: Viger the Magnemite is perhaps the most well-known reactor of the channel for being around since 2015 and especially for his reactions to PINGAS jokes. He has had his suggestions featured twice in "War of the Fat Italians". For context, Viger might be the ONLY SMG4 reactor that doesn't also react to SuperMarioLogan, the channel's biggest rival.
• Fanon Discontinuity: While SMG4 videos are almost always seen as entertaining in some way, there are a few bad apples fans tend to ignore:
  • "Tubbie TV" got this hard at its debut for its heavy use of Garry's Mod over SM64 while still having SM64 in the title (it was later crossed out), and for having Mario be Forced to Watch the Teletubbies TV channel until he is rendered unconscious. Some went as far to call it "Mario Torture Porn" and the video quickly became one of the most divisive ones ever. It has since been Vindicated by History for the most part due to videos after its debut doing mostly the same things it was criticized for back then, which have since become more accepted.
  • "Mario joins the Circus" for being weird even by SMG4 standards, Mario getting hurt a lot for what was seen as stupid reasons, and for being edited by someone else due to SMG4 being too busy making "SSENMODNAR DELUXE" at the time.
  • "Boys vs Girls" got this big time for how Unintentionally Unsympathetic the girls were, the lackluster humor and the infamous ending seeing the girls completely win over the boys, being seen as the pinnacle of the girl trio's favoritism.
  • For some fans, the Rapper Bob arc for having no real impact on the series. Considering the only notable thing about it is "Darkest Hour" and Saiko becoming a guitarist, it's all but easier to ignore.
  • "If Mario Was The Last Man On Earth" has gotten flak for its ending, where Mario's friends attack him after it's revealed that they deliberately abandoned him, setting off the chain of events within the rest of the episode. It can be skipped, however, as it does not connect to any arcs.
  • Starman3's appearances have become this, due to his problematic behavior and reputation in the Super Mario 64 machinima community, as well as using his status in the community back in 2012-2013 to force Luke to make him into an overpowered Mary Sue who was usually a major character, over other popular recolors like FM and X.
• Fan-Disliked Explanation: "SMG4's Origins" as a whole got this reaction, partially due to heavily Retconing much of the series lore and partially for providing explanations for aspects of the series many fans had simply taken for granted, thus taking away their novelty. The SMG4 Universe is explicitly confirmed to be an Alternate Universe branching off from the end of Super Mario 64. SMG4 and SMG3 are revealed to be alien-like invaders that arrived in USB flash drive-like spaceships (with the former's spaceship being the reason why everyone, most tragically of all Mario, is much crazier and dumber than their canon counterparts) and just happen to look like Mario. Finally, SMG4 and SMG3 meet here instead of "smg4 VS smg3" (or even Memewarts, which was already a retcon itself), with the duo simply instantly hating each other when the latter arrives in his spaceship. While the 10th anniversary movie helped clear things up and elaborate on the more confusing bits of this new backstory, it was nonetheless still criticized for the major retcons to the cast's preexisting (and already conflicting) backstories, most egregiously the very preceding episode's set of backstories (which were also criticized for similar reasons).
• Fan-Preferred Cut Content: For the Anime Arc, some felt that the original plan of having Axol as the Big Bad rather than Francis would've been more interesting since he had a legitimate Freudian Excuse to hate Inklings and that him betraying the main cast could've made the confrontation more impactful. Plus, Francis was already a feared mob boss, so him being the villain wasn't nearly as surprising.
• Fanon:
  • Thanks to plenty of memes on r/SMG4, it's been commonly accepted by many that Tari's Trademark Favorite Food is cookies.
  • Desti's last name being Sinawe is also accepted by many in the fandom.
  • Due to the proliferation of memes about FM doing everyone's moms, it's often jokingly suggested that FightingMario54321 is (In-Universe) Meggy's father. Some fans have, however, unironically subscribed to this idea.
• Foe Yay Shipping: SMG4 x SMG3 (also known as SMG34) is a popular ship with fanartists, due to the Foe Romance Subtext in certain episodes. It helps that SMG3 pulled a Heel–Face Turn after the YouTube Arc.
• Friendly Fandoms:
  • It's pretty hard to find SMG4 fans who aren't also fans of Splatoon after Meggy was introduced.
  • Since SMG4's current fanbase is mostly composed of younger, Gen Z kids, they're quite prone to be fans of current, trendy games such as Five Nights at Freddy's and Friday Night Funkin'.
  • Despite the Fandom Rivalry above, there are fans of SuperMarioLogan who also like SMG4. Almost all SMG4 reactors react to SML, and there's plenty of Crossover fanart.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff:
  • SMG4 itself is very popular in Japan, mainly because of the channel’s most popular video: “Who let the chomp out?” with many videos subtitled into Japanese, as well as a lot of fan art on Pixiv.
  • It also has a notorious fanbase in Latin America, with many videos getting subtitled into Spanish.
• Growing the Beard:
  • In terms of editing and humor, 2014 was when SMG4's bloopers started to vastly improve with more music, sound bytes and better jokes. This came to a height with "Who let the chomp out", which caused a huge boost in popularity for the channel that helped make SMG4 one of the most popular machinimists to this day.
  • The Waluigi Arc. The arc, starting in mid-2018 with "Stupid Mario Tennis Aces" and ending with "War Of The Fat Italians 2018", was the series' first ongoing story arc with Waluigi as a surprisingly tragic and serious villain. Other highlights included Mario's Character Development, genuinely sad/heartwarming moments and a strong, stable continuity between videos. The arc became one of the most interesting and well-received directions SMG4 had taken in the channel's history and gained much praise from old and new fans alike. Even after WOTFI 2018 ended the arc on a Gainax Ending, SMG4 confirmed that the better writing would remain going forward, with story arcs becoming a mainstay for the channel.
  • Starting in 2015, "War of the Fat Italians" would end with a rap battle, each one increasing in quality compared to the previous.
  • With each year, SMG4 grows in terms of editing, animation, and worldbuilding, slowly branching off from just using Mario-related elements. The channel bio post-"IT'S GOTTA BE PERFECT" says it best:
    "Animated adventures of SMG4 and crew that started off as just one big meme but grew into something much bigger"
• Heartwarming in Hindsight:
  • If New Super Duper Mario Plus Ultra is a descendant of Mario, that not only means Mario had children at some point after finding true love (no, not Meggy), but also that those children would as well find love and have children for 500 years. Same goes for Professor E. Gadd.
  • Fishy Boopkins gets a date with Miku, as pointed out by this tweet from pug.
• He Really Can Act:
  • Kevin showed he could tug at the heartstrings in "The Mario Concert" when poor Boopkins is being thoroughly berated and ultimately betrayed by Bob.
    • His lines as Axol in his death scene in WOTFI 2021 when Melony Mercy Kills him to stop Zero also deserves a mention for also being heartstring-ripping.
  • Luke likewise showcases his acting chops with Anti-Shroomy, portraying his Trigger-Happy nature for killing demons and general Ax-Crazy personality in a genuinely terrifying way.
    • Similarly, SMG4's outburst in "MAR10 Day". Hearing someone so cheerful and passionate like Luke scream in anger is genuinely terrifying!
  • Wolfychu deserves a mention for her performance as Melony in her last scene with Axol when she Mercy Kills him.
  • James Bailey gets to show off his range of emotions in the episodes leading up to and during the "IT'S GOTTA BE PERFECT" movie, where SMG3 has a lot of somber moments and has to bring SMG4 back down to Earth.
• He's Just Hiding:
  • There are still people who think this in regards to Axol, in spite of the concrete evidence that shows otherwise.
  • James Bailey hints this may be the case for Zero. However, it's unclear if he meant that Zero was still alive or if the crew had plans to reveal more of his Mysterious Past in the future. Turns out, long story short, Zero returns in the Revelations Arc.
• Ho Yay:
  • In various bloopers, mostly Valentine's Day-themed ones, Mario's "date" is a male body pillow with spaghetti for a face, of course.
  • This happened much too frequently with Luigi at certain points in earlier bloopers, where it was mostly Played for Laughs. Since 2020, it's become more prominent again.
  • The Wario Bros., who are related in SMG4's world, also have many... questionable moments with each other in earlier videos.
  • Ever since "If Mario was in the Sonic Movie", Swag has been obsessed with Sonic. It's not until "If Mario Was In... Sonic Movie 2" that Sonic finally returns his affections.
  • According to the Revelations movie, SMG1 and SMG2 share a mattress. Make of that what you will.
  • Niles can be a little too possessive over SMG0, not to mention the fact that he wanted a universe where they could be together.
  • SMG3 has lots of Tsundere tendencies around SMG4, especially later on.
    • To elaborate, SMG3 has a habit of calling SMG4 baka and blushing.
    • There was also the time where they had sex. On screen. This is later referenced in other videos, such as in You Used To Be Cool, where it’s used as an example of SMG3 “spending too much time” with his non-evil friends.
• Hype Backlash:
  • Basically anything advertised on the channel as part of a sponsor agreement (hey, a man's gotta eat). The backlash was in full force when "Stupid Mario Tennis Aces" advertised Fortnite, which is highly popular, yet resented by many non-fans of the game (or Fortnite's genre in general). SMG4 himself has grown to dislike Fortnite, as shown in some Hobo Bros videos where he is shown getting sick of Fortnite dance memes.
  • One of the key reasons Meggy went from being an Ensemble Dark Horse to a Base-Breaking Character. After her first appearance, she got near universal praise from the fanbase over how cool she was and her good relationship with Mario. However, with time, it gradually got to the point where the comments section of every video she showed up in would only consist of her fans praising her nonstop, not to mention the perceived Ship Tease between her and Mario as well as stealing the spotlight away from older characters, leading to some feeling she was being shilled too much. As a result, her popularity slowly decreased until she became the Base-Breaking Character she is now.
  • The GLITCH shows tend to get this thanks to their aggressive marketing campaigns. Whenever a new show/season is about to start, the SMG4 channel devotes a lot of time to advertising it in any way as much as possible until it finishes. While understandable to an extent given GLITCH is far less popular and widely-known than SMG4, this tends to turn a few fans away from those series due to the perceived overhyping and shilling they get.
• I Am Not Shazam: "If Mario was in...Starlink: Battle for Atlas" has Fox McCloud referred to as "Starfox".
• It's Short, So It Sucks!: In the opposite vein of the Anime arc's Slow-Paced Beginning, some feel this way about the latter half of the YouTube arc, feeling that its story was haphazardly and rapidly moved along so that it could end with the annual WOTFI.
• It Was His Sled:
  • Waluigi is SMG4's first Arc Villain. This became well known after "Mario and the T-Pose Virus" showed him being behind the episode's Zombie Apocalypse and became universally known after he was revealed to be pulling the strings behind "War of the Fat Italians 2018".
  • Meggy’s human transformation and Desti's death are the two biggest plot twists in the Anime Arc, but are simply treated as common knowledge in the episodes following. The former for becoming a Late-Arrival Spoiler from "Final Hours" forward and the latter for being the first major character death in the series that sticks and becoming a major aspect of Meggy's character.
  • Similarly, Axol's death. Unlike Desti, he was a main character, and played a role in Melony's Character Development. Later episodes would occasionally revolve around or poke at this topic.
• Iron Woobie: Surprisingly, Mario, notably during The Waluigi Arc. Witnessing your friends fall victim to a disease, being tortured, thinking your brother died at the hands of the madman who caused said disease, and then having your best friend and brother become mindless zombies at the hand of the madman again should break a person. Yet Mario still manages to be a cheerful, if stupid, protagonist. The YouTube arc brings him back this status, most notably in "Deleted" and "A Totally Normal SMG4 Episode"; by the end of SMG3's deleting rampage, Mario is clearly very heartbroken about having seemingly lost his friends for good, even if some of it was on himself, and downright furious when SMG3 gloats about it to his face.
  • SMG1 and SMG2 can qualify too. They saw their Avatar die and their universe crumble before their very eyes, something that very obviously devastated them, but they keep on moving along because they know they can't let Zero destroy another universe.
• It's the Same, So It Sucks:
  • When it was revealed that WOTFI 2021 would be tied to the Genesis arc, an outcry began from some fans who pointed out that this was now the 3rd arc since arcs were established to end on a WOTFI, not to mention being the 2nd consecutive arc to do so at the time. This being the biggest and darkest arc yet, the earlier statement that this arc would be very different and in general the major buildup and seriousness of the arc had many worried that the lightheartedness of WOTFI would cause a major tone whiplash in an arc like the Genesis arc, leading to some feeling disappointed that it ended this way. WOTFI 2022 was criticized even more because the arc it ended only started during the time period that WOTFI releases, making it even clearer that WOTFI was now being engineered to end arcs.
  • By far the biggest criticism of Melony's Character Arc, being that it follows Meggy's own contentious Character Arc nearly beat for beat. Meggy and Melony both start their first 2 years as innocent, fun characters (2017-2019/2019-2021), get development during an arc while losing someone close to them (Desti and Anime/Axol and Genesis), become human ("Final Hours"/"Mario's Mask of Madness"), have an episode focusing on their trauma a month after said arc ("There's Something Up With Meggy"/"To Become A God") and bid farewell to their friend's spirit while finally moving on in a Big Damn Movie (Meggy's Destiny/SMG4 Movie: Revelations).
  • A big factor in the arc burnout for some. Every arc after the Rapper Bob arc has used the Anime arc's formula of being a serious dramatic spectacle. This has caused some to grow tired of them partially because it's getting harder to keep the audience invested in the ever escalating world-ending conflicts without breaking the Willing Suspension of Disbelief. The Genesis and Lawsuit arcs in particular get flak for repeating story beats from the Anime and YouTube arcs, respectively. KS-2's plotline in 2022 was received better in some circles because it set itself apart from the formula the arcs had come to take.

J-N

• Jerkass Woobie:
  • Mario himself. Sure he may be a fat, idiotic asshole, but there are times you can feel sorry for him. Such as in "SMG4's Origins" where its revealed that he used to be like his video game counterpart, but then he got shot by lightning from SMG4's Guardian Pod. Which is how he became stupid in the first place. That poor fat Italian.
  • Toad is a surly, selfish, lazy douchebag who hates everyone, but consider what he's gone through and continues to go through everyday, plus who he has to put up with all the while (ie, Mario, Toadette, Mario again). It really isn't hard to see why he's such a dick.
    • "Meet the Toad" dives further into why it sucks to be Toad. It's revealed that Toad is pretty much a slave to Princess Peach who literally uses him for everything (including a Human Shield), is apparently one of a small amount of sentient Toads in the entirety of the Mushroom Kingdom (alongside Toadsworth, Toadette, Ben, and Frankie), and that he's even tried to leave the Mushroom Kingdom several times when the everyday shenanigans get to be too much for him, only to be foiled by Mario every time, all of which put him in an existential crisis. It also explains his crazier moments as him taking sugar to numb the pain of being the Only Sane Man.
  • Grand Dad, who turns everyone in bootlegs just because he wants them to go through the same pain of being ridiculed for his appearance he went through.
  • Both Bob and Saiko. They are both two lonely people looking for someone to love and accept them. Unfortunately, said desire causes them to commit very heinous acts; Bob has hijacked a train and has left several of the main cast to die or suffer gruesome pain on numerous occasions all for the sake of being popular, while Saiko has actively tried killing people if they show attention towards anyone but her. However, while Saiko eventually gets along with the cast thanks to Luigi's help, Bob went through a lot of hardship and suffering throughout his life to build up his rap career, and when Fishy Boopkins accidentally ruins it, he snapped at him and told Boopkins about how he was only using him and that he was never his friend. Even if Bob did unforgivable things, some people felt sorry for him after he lost everything.
  • Mango from "The Tari Abnormality". Programmed with no family or friends, he's been fighting people for 56 years, but doesn't want to. He says he can only taste people's blood every meal, and has forgotten what it was like to feel. Tari sympathizes with him. Mario doesn't.
  • Desti by the end of the Anime Arc. Yes, she started out as a snobbish, cheating, bitchy rival to Meggy in "If Mario Was In Splatoon 2". But she still respected Meggy enough to help look for her when she was kidnapped by Francis, and when she herself was captured, talked out her differences with Meggy in their cell and agreed to work together. She then talked Axol out of his Despair Event Horizon by explaining she competes with Meggy out of admiration for her determination and, when she gets free, she immediately rejoins the heroes in fighting the Anime Cartel. Which makes it utterly heartbreaking when she is suddenly ran through in the back by a false Sephiroth on Francis' order, just as she was becoming something resembling a friend to Meggy.
  • Niles, at least a bit. He was so insecure over being flawed that he became desperate to create the perfect universe, only to lose his mind so badly that he was willing to do reprehensible things just to get it. By the time SMG0 finally snaps him out of it, he's reduced to tears and saying he just wanted them to be together in their perfect universe.
• Jerks Are Worse Than Villains:
  • SMG4 has had some pretty rotten major antagonists in his videos who have done some truly evil things... and yet, none of them come nearly as close to being hated by the fanbase as Team Killer Ink, the final opponents that the SplatSquad faces in SMG4's first movie, "Meggy's Destiny". There are quite a number of reasons as to why this is: they're just copies of Desti, Meggy's last Splatfest opponent, without her Character Development; their racism towards humans is treated with more realism than SMG4's more cartoony villains; their designs just consist of generic Splatoon assets, compared to the more unique looks on pre-human Meggy, Desti, and later, Oneshot Wren; they don't get punished for the dirty tricks they play in order to win Splatfest besides just losing. It probably helps that as evil as the rest of SMG4's Rogues Gallery were, there was some charm, humor, coolness and/or sympathy added to them that Team Killer Ink severely lacked.
  • Part of why the Rapper Bob Arc is considered the weakest arc of the bunch (even by the creators themselves) is because its villain doesn't raise the stakes the way characters like Waluigi, SMG3, and Zero could in their arcs, as the worst Bob does is simply leave the SMG4 crew to further his rap career. Not helping was, once again, how he hurt them was realistic compared to the more cartoony actions of the "real" Arc Villains.
• Just Here for Godzilla:
  • Many only watch SMG4 for the comedy rather than the story. This also works the other way around.
  • Meggy is usually the reason a good chunk of the fanbase watches SMG4's videos, with there being a time early on where some fans complained if she's wasn't in one.
• Like You Would Really Do It: Although this is gradually getting questioned more often, there are several prominent characters who can't really disappear.
  • Following the release of "Deleted", practically no one really believed that most of the main SMG4 Gang were gone for good given all of them are major characters that have been with the series for years, as well as Luigi and SMG4 being among the characters erased. The very next episode reveals they were only banished to the Internet Graveyard.
    • Fans had this same attitude with the ending of "NINTENDO HAS CLAIMED THIS VIDEO," in which a DMCA kills off every non-Mario character. It's all quickly resolved by the next episode.
  • SMG3 surviving his attack from the Ugandan Knuckles was called from the moment Luke (jokingly, but it was ambiguous then) stated that he was Eaten Alive and killed since SMG3 is one of the oldest and most recurring antagonists in SMG4's videos. That year's Halloween Special confirmed his survival.
  • Mario dying at the end of the 10th anniversary special? Yeah, right. Even with the fact of it being a 10 year special, it would be highly unlikely for the main character of the series to get killed off. Naturally, he's fine after a few moments. While the rest of the Genesis Arc does build up quite a bit of uncertainty, many still called that it wouldn't happen for the same reason.
• Love to Hate:
  • Out of all of the villains to show up in the series, SMG3 is the one that gets the most love from the fanbase for being a hilarious schemer who can still prove to be a legitimate threat to the main cast.
  • Waluigi is loved too for being a truly Tragic Villain due to his past of being rejected, yet he's also a dangerous, serious and fairly entertaining villain.
  • For those who are fans of the Anime Arc, Francis is loved as well for being Laughably Evil, one of the darkest villains of the series and for being someone that you can hate.
  • For Genesis Arc fans, Zero is also loved for being the one who caused the whole series, being the darkest villain in an otherwise (mostly) lighthearted show and for being the closest, if not most, thing to pure evil in the show.
• Magnificent Bastard: Shigeru Miyamoto, though just as silly as the rest of the cast, is nonetheless one of the most dangerous adversaries the SMG4 crew ever faced. A genius game developer who effortlessly saved Nintendo with a single game when Mario managed to drive it to ruin, he would eventually see the heroes as a threat to his company. When Meggy managed to free Mario from acting in a new game, he would instead make one with Luigi, still deciding to retaliate for this violation of Mario's contract. Having Lawyer Kong set up a firewall, he forced out all non-Nintendo characters while reverting the Nintendo characters to their original selves. When SMG4 and Meggy manage to undo this process on Mario and Luigi, he decides to sign a Super DMCA to erase all Nintendo characters, but lets Mario and Luigi attempt to show the other characters can make good games, only signing when they fail. He would later disguise himself as Judge Kirby and temporally undo the DMCA when presented with a parody contract. Ultimately allowing the parody contract to go through, he reveals himself and states that though the arguments used would not apply in an actual court, he judged SMG4 to not be a threat and grew to like the crew. Giving the condition of some characters changing their designs before leaving the gang in peace, he put the crew in multiple no-win situations and they only still exist due to his whims.
• Memetic Badass:
  • A few underused classic characters such as the Old Man Hobo are often perceived as this.
  • Mr. Monitor for his sheer determination, and absolute efficiency to make sure no one violates the law.
  • Human Melony became this as soon as she first appeared, because of her coming to life through the Fierce Deity Mask, which grants divinity and gives access to all of the Fierce Deity’s powers to whoever wears it. As such, Melony is now a sleepy hacker watermelon demigoddess.
• Memetic Molester: Most of the Team Fortress 2 mercenaries can come off as this due to their facial expressions and lines, but special mention goes to the BLU Spy, whose appearances are accompanied by him pelvic thrusting to a song about "surprise buttsecks".
• Mis-blamed:
  • Kevin is usually the first to get flak when something is perceived as wrong by the fans, whether he's really the cause or not. This is mostly due to him being a key factor in the direction the channel took after he took up writing duties in 2016.
  • “If Mario Was In Friday Night Funkin 2” was seen by some as a desperate attempt by SMG4 to try and replicate the wild success of the first FNF episode despite it being barely over a month old (not helped by the fact that GLITCH had aired a FNF-themed Sunset Paradise short not ever 24 hours before). In actuality, the sequel episode was the idea of FM, and they were really passionate about it.
  • Similarly, the mere appearance of FNF characters in "If Mario Was In... Newgrounds" had those same people accusing him of using the video as an excuse to milk FNF more, despite it only taking up a small segment of the episode, and SMG4 even lampshading the fact he had already done two FNF episodes.
• Moe:
  • Tari can be seen as this, given her shy personality and her overall Adorkable demeanor. The fact that she's also a Butt-Monkey adds to this too.
  • Toddler Meggy, which Mario finds a photo of in "Meggy Moves In", is nothing short of adorable.
  • Human Melony, with her lazy nature, her childlike personality, and cutesy Animesque design, is adorable enough to give even Tari a run for her money.
  • The real SMG0 is absolutely adorable, certainly nothing like his fused virus form.
• Moral Event Horizon: now with own page
• More Popular Spin Off: Many fans have taken a liking to the Mario Does Things sub-series due to the videos having a more chaotic nature like in 2015-2017.
• Most Wonderful Sound:
  • Anytime SMG4 edits Mario's voice clips to make him say something crazy (e.g. "Mario's gonna do something very illegal"), or say the names of characters specific to this series. So far, he's said the names of Meggy, Bob, Tari, Shroomy, Steve, Greg, Sans, and SMG4 himself.
  • Meggy’s voice from WOTFI 2020 onward, courtesy of Lizzie Freeman, is absolutely beautiful.
• Narm:
  • Since SMG4 was much younger and was still learning how to properly edit at the time, all his bloopers pre-2013 are positively loaded with this: incredibly dated and immature jokes, lack of physical emotion in characters, tons of spelling and grammatical errors, and clumsily Photoshopped images were abound in those videos.
  • A major criticism of the serious deaths are that they come off as a little forced for the sake of shock value and drama. That many characters have sustained countless comical and insane injuries (and in most cases survived them) and that death was, and still is, largely Played for Laughs while their deaths are treated as serious and irreversible only adds to this factor.
• Narm Charm:
  • Conversely, the pre-2013 era is fondly remembered by a legion of old fans who yearn for the return of some of the characters introduced and gradually forgotten during those days.
  • The T-Pose zombies introduced in the Waluigi Arc are based off an outdated and negatively-painted meme... and are terrifying because of the inherently huge amount of creepiness in T-posers.
• Never Live It Down: "Boys vs Girls" ended up doing this for Meggy, Saiko and Tari thanks to its infamous ending despite it being their lowest points as characters and having many more episodes, both before and after, where they are on friendlier terms with the boys.
  • Mainly, Friday Night Funkin' cover makers only acknowledge the series for the sole purpose of making an IT'S GOTTA BE PERFECT-themed cover or remix.
  • Because Desti and Axol's deaths both occurred after having received a sudden increase in focus and development, many fans automatically begin to fear that when a character is given more of a spotlight, such as Saiko in the leadup to The Meme Games, Tari in the leadup to Western Spaghetti, and SMG3 in the leadup to WOTFI 2023, they're gonna die too. So far, Desti and Axol remain the only examples of this.
• Nightmare Retardant:
  • Toad portraying Darth Vader. Made even better when he says this:
    Toad: Perfect. Time to make me a sandwich...
  • Several of the series' most tense moments are usually counterbalanced by some form of goofiness.
  • While Waluigi is clearly a threatening villain during his Arc, a bit of his intimidation factor goes down when you remember his motivation to become a villain was because he was rejected from Smash Bros., a video game.
• No Yay:
  • Mario x Meggy is a Fan-Preferred Couple by one half of the fandom, but seeing as how Meggy was originally underage and Word of God confirms Mario is in his mid-twenties (also, SMG4's Mario was once stated by have been born in 1928), many view it as pedophilic and disturbing. The ship has been banned on several social media sites due to this, and Luke and Kevin have all but stated the ship will never happen. If anything, they're Like Brother and Sister—with Meggy even saying so in her QnA video. Besides, we all know who Mario's true love is.
  • "Son of a bowser" and "A Theatre Mario." feature an in-universe movie entitled Super Mario Twilight, which features Mario x Bowser. Mario & Bowser's reactions to this say it all.

O-S

• Obscure Popularity: SMG4 is one of the biggest Machinima YouTube channels ever, with videos exceeding 30 million views and a huge fanbase, all this giving birth to GLITCH Productions. But despite its success, with the exception of Memetic Mutations involving Mario or talks about Glitch Productions' history, the series is rarely discussed or recognized outside of said fanbase. Not even after the series started to feature well-known voice actors in The New '20s like Lizzie Freeman or Michael Kovach seems to be enough to be recognized by the mainstream, and websites like Wikipedia often omit SMG4 from their filmographies due to being considered not notable enough.
• Old Guard Versus New Blood: The main crux behind the increasing divisiveness over the series' direction since 2016. The Old Guard wish that the series would stay how it was during the days of old when characters could say or do anything without any lasting consequences, SM64 elements were prominent and the plots and characters were more parodic in nature. The New Guard are considered fans who came after 2016, when the formula began to shift toward the modern elements, and prefer the use of trending topics, stable continuity, the more generally toned down meme-based humor, and the inclusion of more fleshed out Original Generation characters and lore. With these drastically different styles, both guards are constantly at war with each over what direction the series "should be" taking, with the New Guard feeling the old era's elements are simply inferior, outdated and obsolete, while the Old Guard decries the modern elements as going against everything that made the series entertaining in the first place and alienating them as a result. The series itself leans more toward the New Guard, utilizing most of the aspects of the new era while at times bringing back elements that appeal to the Old Guard.
• Older Than They Think:
  • Many people assume SMG4 started the concept of Super Mario 64 Bloopers and machinima of its kind, viewing many YouTubers such as MarioMario54321 as copying his style, unaware of the fact the latter was one of his biggest inspirations and that Super Mario 64 Bloopers and machinimas have been around since 2006 (SMG4 started his series in 2011).
  • As much as people love Luigi's characterization as the Cloudcuckoolander's Minder to Mario^note when SMG4 or Peach isn't filling the role, it's hardly an original concept. There were plenty of times in the DiC cartoons where Luigi had more common sense than Mario—especially in the live-action segments of The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!. On the flipside, Mario being portrayed as an idiot was also a thing in Super Show, albeit more subtle or not as common as it is in this series.
  • After 2014, SMG4 has had a tendency of making his bloopers based on the current popular trend at the time of upload. However, this has actually been around since his first blooper back in 2011 ("The cake is a lie").
  • It's assumed that "World War Mario" was the first time SMG4 took a character's death seriously. However, the first instance in this was actually the 2013 blooper "Tale of a bob-omb", which is even labeled as a sob story.
  • Pengaz from "Super Pokemans 64: Legendary pokemon" didn't originate from that blooper. It actually originated from a ROM hack called Pokémon Clover.
  • Since many of SMG4's fans are younger Gen Z kids, they probably believe memes such as Weegee, some of the CD-i cutscene voice clips, and especially "PINGAS" originated from SMG4, when in reality they originated nearly half a decade ago in YouTube Poop, around the time said audience was born.
• Once Original, Now Common: Not to nearly the extent that Machinimists like MarioMario54321 and ACDCGAMER have seen, but still present nonetheless. In 2011, a series like SMG4 was unprecedented in the SM64 machinima scene and became hugely popular because of how much crazier it was comparatively. It was also responsible for pioneering and normalizing much of what modern Mario machinimas utilize. While SMG4 remains highly regarded for various reasons (a company working on it, having the most consistency in polish and uploads, seniority, the highest sub count), the impact of the earliest videos can be hard to fathom nowadays since many machinimists have since either replicated their style or have improved on it.
• Only the Creator Does It Right:
  • Some fans, especially those of the older videos, believe that SMG4 was at its best when Luke was the only one behind the wheel and that other people getting involved with the series caused it to degrade in quality and/or change too much. Content made solely by Luke tends to get a better reaction from this crowd due to better resembling the tone and editing from 2016-2018.
  • SMG3 in particular is seen by some as being written better under Luke with his Doofenshmirtz-like Affably Evil tendencies compared to Kevin and GP making him into more of a generic villain since the YouTube arc.^note Kevin admitted in the Hobo Bros video about SMG3's wiki page that apart from "SnowTrapped", he didn't know much more about SMG3 prior to when he started writing him, and even then, his reaction to Luke telling him the ending implies he didn't remember that much of it.
• Padding:
  • A big criticism of the Rapper Bob Arc is that it's ultimately Filler in the grand scheme of things as there isn't much that really changes from beginning to end. As a result, many feel that it isn't worth watching.
  • One of the biggest issues of the Genesis Arc was how much Filler episodes were released in-between the story. Compared to the already-infamously long Anime Arc, which got to the point and continued its story week after week, the Genesis Arc's first half was flooded by a lot of standalone episodic adventures, with only one episode of the arc released per month. Fans say that this lessened by "If Mario Was In... Newgrounds", where episodes of the arc became more common.
• Questionable Casting: "If Mario Was In Meta Runner" is a Denser and Wackier retelling of the first season of Meta Runner, with all the characters represented by someone of the Glitchy Gang (except for Tari and Belle). Some of the characters chosen, though, were odd choices for representations, particularly Bob as Lucks. Of course, that's probably what makes it all the funnier, and Shroomy as Masa gets a joke In-Universe.
• Quirky Work: This is a series known for combining slapstick, Black Comedy, and pop culture references with frequent dives into the surreal and absurdist.
• Replacement Scrappy: A criticism following nearly all of the post-2016 main cast members for replacing the YouTube Rangers, the older, more popular supporting cast, and most of the Mario cast. As of 2022, this has extended to the newer side characters as well, with some noting that many of them have archetypes suspiciously similar to older characters that were well-loved and Demoted to Extra.^note Hal Monitor to the SM64-styled police, Whimpu to Fishy Boopkins, Karen to Toad, Wheeler to the Wario Bros.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: For a while, Saiko Bichitaru wasn't too popular. Fans generally loathed her for her eerily lifelike animation style (especially compared to Meggy's more fluid animation), her annoying and repetitive voice clips, and her personality amounting to being little more than "easy-to-anger Yandere". Then there were others who didn't like her for bringing more "anime" styled characters into the series. However, "Luigi's Lesson" managed to redeem her in the eyes of some thanks to her Character Development. In time, she became a reliable, tough, Cool Big Sis to Meggy and Tari, with accents of Mama Wolf when you hurt her friends, which is best shown during the Anime Arc.
• Sacred Cow: While the earliest and later parts of SMG4 have their fair share of criticisms, 2014 to early 2016 is widely considered by the fanbase to be the golden age of the channel, and very rarely are complaints thrown against this time period.
• The Scrappy: While this show is no stranger to plenty a Base-Breaking Character, there will be at least SOME people who like or even love them, even if that love is Love to Hate. Well, good luck finding anyone who genuinely likes Depresso. His gimmick has been done to death and there's no real shake ups to make it unique, his appearances feel tacked on, and even then he's more often than not the cause of the episodes problem.
• Seasonal Rot: Many fans, especially veterans, believe the series has gradually undergone this since its transition to the "Modern" era starting with "Seaside Stupidity: Part 1". Fans tend to cite the numerous divisive changes the series has undergone since, the underutilization of nearly the entire cast in favor of the same few characters, the shift toward Original Characters and lore to the point where the series barely has any Super Mario elements left, the perceived downgrade in humor due to Values Dissonance and YouTube's increasingly strict, kid-friendly policies and heavily diminishing the series' rewatch value through the use of memes, trending topics and the more serialized nature brought by the shift to dramedy. 2022 was seen as the lowest point for introducing many controversial changes, bringing many long-running issues with the series to a breaking point and a general feeling that the series is prioritizing animation, presentation and marketability at the expense of everything else.
• Shallow Parody: Anime in general has this problem whenever an episode spoofs it, tending to largely only feature either surface level knowledge of the series being portrayed or jokes used in memes (You triggered my trap card, Dragon Ball screaming and long power-up sequences, Naruto running, Ora Ora, Dio, Kamina shades). The Anime arc and "If Mario was in Anime" are two big examples of this.
• Shocking Moments:
  • The ending of "The Mario Concert", which puts every action Bob took before the video in a much harsher light.
  • Desti's death at the end of "World War Mario". It comes out of nowhere and marks the first time in SMG4 history since 2013's "Tale of a bob-omb" where a death is treated with severity. Everyone can only stare in shock, even Mario.
  • "Meggy Answers Your Questions..." has Meggy casually reveal two of the longest running questions in the fandom regarding her; Her age and her view of her relationship with Mario. This was especially noteworthy as Luke and Kevin had always distanced themselves from these subjects prior and were seemingly heavily insistent on never bringing either up or providing answers, likely due to the numerous flame wars these questions caused, so actually getting real answers caught many by surprise.
  • WOTFI 2021, the finale of the Genesis Arc, sees the biggest change in the status quo since the Anime arc; Axol, a main cast member, is Killed Off for Real. Like with "World War Mario," everyone is shocked and heartbroken when Melony silently reveals he's gone.
  • “Mario Can’t Play With You Anymore” has the completely unexpected happen with Meggy becoming an inkling again. Even if it was clearly stated to be temporary, many in the fandom were quick to describe their jaws dropping to the floor in reaction to this event.
• Signature Scene:
  • Mario and SMG4 running from the Chain Chomp in "Who let the chomp out?" to the tune of "Who Let The Dogs Out?", which became so iconic that it quickly led to a surge in popularity for the channel.
  • Mario pushing Bob off the Castle roof in "Mario And The T-Pose Virus" as revenge for indirectly getting Luigi infected, commonly cited as the moment the Waluigi arc was formerly born.
  • The "Darkest Hour" music video from "Mario and The Diss Track".
  • Desti's death at the end of "World War Mario".
  • SMG4 being erased in front of Mario in "Deleted".
  • Ax0l showing off his Nightmare Face upon hitting Stage 2 of his possession at the end of "Mario and The Backrooms", a staple moment of the horrific visuals of the Genesis arc's climax.
    • The death of Axol at the end of "WotFI 2021".
• Signature Series Arc: The Waluigi Arc is the arc most tend to remember and is considered the point where the series shifted from comedy to dramedy.
• Slow-Paced Beginning: A major criticism towards The Anime Arc is that it takes awhile to get off its feet, which had the effect of drawing out the beginning of the arc to nearly 2 months. It's not until "The Splatfest Incident" that the pace finally starts evening out.
• So Okay, It's Average: Some fans think that modern SMG4 is not the best, but not the worst either, as it still retains the Denser and Wackier approach from the 2014-2015 bloopers, creative writing and entertaining story arcs.
• Special Effects Failure: Mostly Played for Laughs, but some are unintentional:
  • In older videos, when a character was being moved across the screen, residue of anything else on the screen the characters were being green-screened from got into some shots, such as black lines. SMG4 most likely forgot to mask out the aforementioned black lines in these cases.
  • In the older videos, when Bowser, Toad, or Peach were walking, they would occasionally jerk around for a split second.
  • "Freddy's Spaghettiria" has a Steam notification in the upper right corner in one scene.
  • In "The Spaghettipocalypse", a mouse cursor can be seen in some of the shots of Mario and the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
  • In the final act of "Mario the Olympian", Mario hops onto a motorcycle to make a getaway... except his model phases through the bike he's driving.
  • Inkling Meggy looked great when she was animated with Henry's, but looked really jarring when moved around with Garry's Mod.
  • The trailer for the Revelations movie has the Sword Beam shot by Melony layered in front of the Guardian Pod ship before it moves away instead of behind it.
  • In "Video Ends When Everyone Stops Watching", SMG3's head is crudely pasted onto what is clearly Mario's boxer shorts model from Super Mario Odyssey. Not only does the head not look right, but the two models' skin colors don't match.
• Spoiled by the Format:
  • Generally, the format of a video (If Mario was in..., Mario Does Things, arc episodes, etc.) and its release date can be found out beforehand since the team uploads episodes a day before as private while playlists are updated to show them there before they can be watched. The fanbase at large caught on to this during the YouTube arc and has since frequently taken advantage of it to speculate on episodes ahead of time.
  • If a new character has original aspects in their design or is given an original VA, they're likely to appear again and become, at the very least, a side character considering the work put into them. This has been a tradition ever since Fishy Boopkins' introduction to the series in 2016, and fans have continued to see this pattern repeat itself for new additions in increasingly obvious ways since.
  • An easy way to tell if an arc is about to start is to see if the channel banner has been changed. This tends to happen just before an arc is about to begin (or has begun shortly beforehand without the fanbase knowing yet), since a big aspect of arcs is the banner changing over time to reflect the events of the arc. Because of this, any changes to the banner that aren't related to GLITCH IPs are taken as possible signs of incoming arc content, a deduction that has proven to be fairly accurate.
  • If a character receives a new design prior to a big event, 9 times out of 10 they will come out unscathed. SMG4 and SMG3 got theirs right before the "IT'S GOTTA BE PERFECT" movie, and Tari got hers a few weeks before "Western Spaghetti," and they all made it out okay.
• Squick:
  • The ending of "SnowTrapped", which sees the insane, starving and likely oxygen-deprived SMG4 and SMG3 having sex due to believing they were going to die.
  • "The Melancholy of Fishy Boopkins" gives us Heavy in drag. No wonder Meggy fainted.
  • The way Mario makes his, uh... "lemonade" in "Mario's Lemonade Stand". Tari's Jaw Drop says it all.
• Star Trek Movie Curse: Intitially, the odd-numbered arcs tend to be more acclaimed compared to the even-numbered arcs. The Waluigi Arc, as one of the first story arcs, was positively received due to taking the channel in a direction no one had foreseen at the time. The Rapper Bob Arc, in comparison, was disliked for having no impact on the series (though it has been since Vindicated by History for focusing on the characters rather than the overall plot). The Anime Arc is somewhat divisive for its Slow-Paced Beginning and Unnecessary Makeover of Meggy, among other things, but it's agreed to be much better than the succeeding YouTube Arc which was agreed to be way too short. This gets inverted after that point, where odd-numbered arcs are disliked compared to even-numbered arcs, as the Genesis Arc controversially killed off Axol in way that even his critics thought it was unnecessary to kill off an underdeveloped character, while the Revelations Arc not only massively expands on the worldbuilding, but also finished off any major dangling plot points as well, and left fans questioning how future arcs are going to have big shoes to fill. Consequently, the Lawsuit Arc is agreed to be heavily disliked for essentially not only being a rehash of the YouTube Arc, but also for several controversial character design changes that would stick until SMG4 Movie: It's Gotta Be Perfect. Only time will tell if the upcoming arc maintains this pattern.
• Strawman Has a Point:
  • In “The Mario Concert”, it is revealed that Bob had manipulated the events of “Mario And... The Well” and “Mario and the Bob Mansion” to make himself famous, and harshly berates Boopkins for ruining his concert. Bob’s jerkassery and selfishness are clearly meant to make him the villain, but the fact that Boopkins barged into his performance after repeatedly being told not to come makes it difficult to see Bob’s anger as unjustified.
  • It's no secret that Meggy is a Competition Freak when it comes to Splatfest, and she does tend to be hard on her friends while training them for it, especially in "Meggy's Bootcamp", which rightfully puts her in the wrong for going too far. All that considered, her training comes in handy when you see how great of a team they turn out to be, working together to recover the weapons that Desti stole from them, and they only get better from there.

T-W

• Take That, Scrappy!: If you hated Team Killer Ink from Meggy's Destiny, Tertiary Bread made an entry for the 2020 collab where the Leader is devoured by an Indoraptor-esque creature stating "she finally got what she deserved". Sure, it was a non-canon film Mario watches, but the fact that it got into the collab should say something.

• This is Your Premise on Drugs: Given the surreal humor SMG4 has to offer, you can consider the whole series the animated adaptation of a typical Super Mario Bros. fanfiction... on glorious LSD, written by Stephen Chow.
• Too Bleak, Stopped Caring: Some have given this sentiment about the arcs after Waluigi, with a common criticism being that the darker and/or more dramatic tones clash with the comedy employed everywhere else in the series. Anime and Genesis get this the most as they both have the darkest tones and feature the permanent death of a fan-favorite character. Some have also claimed that the Lawsuit Arc was unnecessarily bleak for such a simple premise.
• Tough Act to Follow:
  • In terms of storytelling, The Waluigi Arc, SMG4's first true story Arc, is held in much higher regard compared to the story-based content produced after due to its better pacing, well executed heartfelt moments, Waluigi's role as the Arc Villain, and solidly integrating "War of the Fat Italians 2018" into the plot. Some feel that subsequent story-based content hasn't been able to live up to the standard this arc set, with common criticisms being that it isn't as well-written, has inconsistent or poor pacing, relies too much on high-stakes, has an awkward imbalance in tone (especially when it comes to integrating WOTFIs into them) and tends to introduce controversial changes or plot points.
  • Subscriber milestone-wise, the 2 and 3 million fan collabs were both considered the pinnacle of SSENMODNAR videos, with the fans getting A Day in the Limelight by the means of their own SSENMODNAR entries picked by Luke himself. The 4 million milestone video, "The Fan-Written Episode", was described as the worst of all the SMG4 milestone videos by fans of the modern bloopers, with complaints being towards the lackluster humor catering mostly towards fans of "Classic SMG4" videos and the complete absence of the modern SMG4 cast aside from Fuego the Water Bottle.
  • The Cosmology Saga proved to be the most ambitious storyline for the channel, what with it being the longest by a wide margin, going on during the series 10th anniversary, having 3 movie-length episodes (including the 10th anniversary of WOTFI) and exploring the origins of the series itself. Even before its first half ended, many pondered how future arcs would even begin to follow it thanks to the perceived impossibility of topping the events of the Saga.
• Unintentional Uncanny Valley:
  • Some have this opinion of Saiko, specifically her realistic facial features, the way she's animated, and how abnormally tall she is compared to the rest of the cast.
  • Meggy's human redesign also gets this in some circles, mostly with her facial features and how they're animated.
  • RTX Meggy from the end of "The Quest For RTX". Her model is much more detailed than her original one (and the rest of the cast by extension), and is animated using motion capture, meaning her movements look almost human-like, but not quite. Given that the whole episode is a parody of the "RTX On" meme, this may have been intentional.
  • Some fans view the new designs for SMG4, SMG3, Bob, and Fishy Boopkins to be this.
• Unexpected Character:
  • In "MARIO'S CHALLENGE", no one knew that a new, very silly-looking character named Shroomy would be the winner of the challenge.
  • SMG3 being the therapist helping Waluigi and Wario reconcile in "War of the Fat Italians 2018" caught just about everyone off guard.
  • No one really expected Francis to be the leader of the anime cartel in "Mario's Illegal Operation".
  • Who in the world could've expected Belle Fontiere to be introduced in "I Can't Believe It's Not SMG4"?
  • Those who didn't catch the crossover teaser at the end of "How Meta Runner TRIGGERS You" would've never expected Nathaniel Bandy and Beeg Jon to appear in "War Of The Simps".
  • Aziz Youzi's appearance in "Mario Gets Lit" was quite a surprise to fans.
• Unintentional Period Piece: SMG4 videos have a tendency of referencing various memes and franchises that were popular at the time they were uploaded. Because of this, it can be easier to tell when a video was made. Especially evident with "breaking walls", which featured YouTube the way it was when the video was uploaded in 2012.
• Unintentionally Sympathetic: Mario, post Face–Heel Turn in "Smart Mario". Turning evil over a plate of extra spaghetti (that belonged to Luigi, no less) is ridiculous, but wanting revenge on all the times people called an idiot is not, as Mario now has the emotional maturity to be hurt by such insults. His friends claiming that Mario was better off a dumbass than what he is now, while reasonable, is still far off considering that he has done far worse pre-intelligence. It doesn't help that Luigi, Tari and Meggy are they only ones who try talking to Mario, while SMG4, Bob and many more simply want to beat him up.
  • Mario in general becomes this from time to time. His stupidity earns him the ire of his friends (which sometimes leads to physical violence upon him), despite it sometimes not even being his (entire) fault. "DO NOT ENTER" and "If Mario Was The Last Man On Earth" are the most used examples of this. Fans also bring up how Mario's stupidity is technically SMG4's fault, as his guardian pod turned him into an idiot, yet SMG4 is just as willing to blame him for being stupid.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic:
  • To some, Fishy Boopkins is this in "The Mario Concert". We're meant to feel sorry for him since Bob berated him and called him a pushover who will never succeed in this world. However, many felt this fell flat because they found Boopkins annoying and he did ruin Bob's concert via getting up on stage after he flat-out told him not to.
  • Meggy and Saiko in "Boys vs. Girls". The boys' final prank on the girls is meant to be seen as the boys' having gone too far. However, this came after the girls were also pulling pranks on the boys, some of which were far worse than anything the boys did, and they were arguably asking for it (Meggy even says "Do your worst"). Even Tari, the one who falls victim to the prank, seems more okay with it than they are. As a result, they come off more as hypocrites for admonishing the boys when they were no better, especially considering they force the boys to partake in a hunting game as the prey to make up for the prank. If Tari had been injured by the prank in any way (after all, it did involve a bear mauling her), their reactions might have been more understandable, but she clearly was not.
  • With the reveal that Mario's friends abandoned him in "If Mario Was The Last Man On Earth" because he ruined their world record attempt, their final blitz on him when he does it again did not sit well with fans, as they believe that pushing him away was what drove him insane, letting him accidentally ruin their NEXT attempt.
  • SMG4 in the "IT'S GOTTA BE PERFECT" movie. The film says that he's built up a lot of stress to keep his fans happy, but some of said fans didn't believe it justified his actions prior (ruining MAR10 Day and sinking the castle, the former of which was before he got possessed).
• Unpopular Popular Character:
  • Fishy Boopkins. In-universe, not many characters like him and he has no real friends outside of the main cast. Out of universe, the fans love him and oftentimes would eagerly jump at the chance to be his friend if they could.
  • Bob qualifies too, though not as much as Boopkins. To clarify, Boopkins is a Nice Guy, which helps endear him to the audience, while Bob's colossal ego makes him less likable to some, though no less entertaining.
• Unnecessary Makeover:
  • How some felt about Meggy's human redesign in "Final Hours". Some say that it looks too animesque, making her look too much like Saiko and Tari. Others believe it's too off-putting due to how radically different it looks compared to the rest of the cast, and being a bit too jarring a shift from her original cartoonish Inkling appearance. Then there are some, mostly fans of Splatoon, who believe that it takes away from her character of being an Inkling, putting her further into Original Character territory and making her less interesting as a result.
  • Axol's redesign in "The Internet Graveyard" was at first seen as fitting for that episode considering the circumstances behind it, only for fans to sour to it once it became clear that it was permanent. The main criticisms of it are making him stay filthy long after escaping the graveyard, breaking Inkweaver (thus taking away one of the big aspects of his character that made him stand out among the main cast) and for the random scar on his right eye.
  • The redesigns of SMG4, SMG3, Bob and Boopkins in WOTFI 2022 got this sentiment, considering that SMG4 wasn't really getting DMCA'd and how Nintendo Australia is more lenient with copyright.
• Values Dissonance: The classic era (anything pre-2018) bloopers are subjected to this. Most of them are filled to the brim with shock humor that certainly crosses the line over again many times, and that's because YouTube's content policies at that time were lenient. Nevertheless, as SMG4 grew his beard, it becomes clear that the series's signature shock humor has become problematic for newer fans, that they have to tone down the "shock" factor. In fact, SMG4 had to privatize 2 bloopers^note “0% of Spaghetti” and “The SMG4 Weight Losers”, and the channel's Remastered64 videos have to Bowdlerise anything too spicy to keep them eligible for monetization.
• Viewers in Mourning:
  • Desti's death caused the fanbase at large to mourn to the point that fanart of her and What If? scenarios where she had survived are still rampant long after her death.
  • Axol's death caused this on a much greater scale due to having been a mainstay for 2 years and because of how much he suffered before the end.
  • A non-character example: Peach's Castle gets destroyed for good in the fourth movie, after over 11 years of being the central hub. A lot of fans took to social media to express their sadness and remember all the adventures that took place inside it.
• Vindicated by History: The Rapper Bob arc used to be considered the worst arc by far. Since 2021, fan opinion has warmed considerably to it, as many have come to see it as a more grounded arc that utilizes character interactions to tell its story rather than utilizing grand stakes like the rest of the arcs.
• Wangst: This is one of the biggest criticisms of Meggy after her Character Development, with many saying her constant complaining and crying in a mostly comedic series have turned them off from her character. A big example of this is her mourning of Desti, mostly due to the latter’s scarce screen time and how quickly the pair warmed up to each other after their rivalry was largely shown to be one of genuine hatred. The crew have shown that they are aware of this criticism, having multiple episodes that have acknowledged it in the form of jokes, best seen in "The Pursuit of Happiness".
• What Do You Mean, It's Not for Kids?: Despite being a Super Mario Bros. parody, the series frequently has swearing, violence, drugs, lots of Black Comedy, Vulgar Humor and far more adult content not suitable for kids. Though changing times and the series shift to dramedy have downplayed some of these, it also introduced darker, more mature subjects in turn such as kidnapping, torture, death that isn't reversed or Played for Laughs, and borderline PTSD.
• What Do You Mean, It's Not Political?: The infamous “Boys vs. Girls” video had people thinking SMG4 had become a feminist due to the girls winning and the boys being the ones to apologize.
• The Woobie:
  • Luigi can be this at times, due to being the Butt-Monkey of the series, and prime victim of the wacky antics in the world around him.
  • Meggy. No matter how hard she tries or how much effort she's put in, her continued losses in the Splatfest tournaments have left her with severe self-confidence issues she keeps bottled up, driving her to lash out at her friends. Furthermore, she feels like she's losing her sense of self due to her obsession with Splatfest, and when she reveals this in "Meggy's Bootcamp" she breaks down in tears. The latter half of the Anime Arc is even worse on her, especially after Desti is killed. Then in "There's Something Up With Meggy...", it's revealed that she's still unable to move on after Desti's death until Mario and friends help her, and even then, it takes until "Meggy's Destiny" for her to fully recover from it.
  • Axol has it rough. He spends his childhood getting bullied by everyone in his hometown simply because of what he loves, his creation gets misused in the present day, undergoes Sanity Slippage from spending 5 years in a different dimension away from his friends and is insecure over whether he is good enough for his crush. It's also subtly implied that he feels guilty for Meggy's human transformation and all the trouble it has brought her. Then, right as he finally begins getting his life back together and gets his pen fixed, he's possessed by Zero and ultimately has to lay down his life to save the universe.
  • Melony is this in a certain sense as well. After Axol dies, Melony wants to get better at controlling her powers so that she'll be strong enough to prevent harm from coming to her friends. The problem is that her attempts at trying to become stronger usually results in her going on a rampage, nearly achieving the opposite effect. When she comes close to killing SMG3 for his treachery under the influence of her powers, she starts thinking that she shouldn't be in possession of those powers. Oh, and then Niles turns out to be ZERO, who is Back from the Dead and promptly possesses her for her powers.
  • The real SMG0, once he shows up in the Revelations movie, is revealed to be just an innocent victim that was Forced into Evil by one of his closest friends. He loses his world, his avatar and even control over his own body. In the end, he gets one of the saddest fates in the series; being Killed Off for Real alongside said friend.