Fridge / Brawl in the Family

Fridge Brilliance

• Anyone who may not have made the connection, the "I'm not Jigglypuff!" may have been a Shout-Out to the memetic nightmare scene from Rugrats. "I'm not Tommy!"
• When Dark Matter attacks Cocoon Academy, Ganondorf yells out, "what in Din's name?" At first, it seems like a reference to Din, one of the goddesses from The Legend of Zelda... but when you think about it, Din is the Goddess of Power, and Ganondorf wields the Triforce of Power...
• In this script, Waluigi, and not Tiny Toad pops out of the bag in the last panel. Earlier in the comic, this script to be specific, we see Ashley's husband getting kidnapped. Have we made the connection yet?
  • OK Brain Bleach please.
  • Or Waluigi may have bugged Bowser with one WAA too many sometime before. Of course, Rule of Funny makes the previous theory more likely.
• In a Mushroom Kingdom Carol Part 3, Wario leaves WarioWare to go into the banking business with Mario because "video games are a dying industry, anyway." Later on, you remember that this is shortly after Bowser supposedly quit and the Mario Bros. celebrated their final victory. Video games were a dying industry because the guy who more-or-less put the industry on the map has just retired!
• A Mushroom Kingdom Carol contains a subtle Throw the Dog a Bone that viewers may not have noticed the first time: In the time between now and when the story starts, Mario and Peach got more and more into their work and slowly drifted apart, while Luigi and Daisy married and adopted a child.
• One more from A Mushroom Kingdom Carol: Why would The Ghost of Christmas Yet-to-Come be Shadow Mario, of all characters? Because his true self is the Big Bad!
• This Brawl in the Family comic is funny on its own, but we may not realize something brilliant about the punch line: Bullet Bill cannons never fire when someone is right next to them.
  • Piranha Plants don't emerge either, though...
    • Unless they spit fireballs.
• In the comic musical "Ode To Minions", there is a panel which has the singer say, "put your plumber's hat over your heart and say..." with an accompanying picture of Mario, Luigi, Wario, and Waluigi all doing so. Though Waluigi had his fingers crossed behind his back. This seems like Waluigi's usual deal when you realize, Waluigi has never fought any minions! If he's never had to do so, why would he feel sorry about it?
  • While this is true, Waluigi is likely crossing his fingers because he doesn't feel bad about any of the minions, not because he had no involvement with them. YMMV though.
    • Notice the lack of Sonic the Hedgehog in "Ode to Minions". I was confused at first, but then I remembered that all the mooks in the Sonic games are actually animals trapped in robots that Sonic is liberating.
    • Also, at the end, it turns out the whole thing was sung by Bowser. It makes sense that he's giving a Sympathetic P.O.V. for the Mooks when you realize that he's A Father to His Men (sometimes literally). It's also probably why his minions were the first to be mentioned.
• In comic 386, Daisy was talking to Vivian about racing. ("It was just like that Wiggler just let me on through"). In comic 383, she found out that Wiggler racer had some Nepotism with the Wiggler on the track, Maple Treeway. Alt Text? "Now then, if you want me to be quiet, don't block me on the track either." See the connection?
• Why is it Dedede is shown acting like a Jerkass to Kirby half the time, but a friend the other half? Well, notice how when Dedede and Kirby are being friendly with each other, they're usually indoors or somewhere where there aren't many others. It could be Dedede and Kirby are normally friends, but when in public, Dedede acts like a villain to keep up his image.
• Given the revelation that the "Cocoon Academy" arc is from Meta Knight aka "Pinky"'s perspective, these comics make more sense as "Intermissions" — Pinky's not in them at all!
• In the comic review for E3 2013, there's one scene where Mario ruins Luigi's "Year of Luigi" moment, after which Luigi goes to bed and dreams of beating Mario up. Typical Yank the Dog's Chain moment and nothing more, right? Well...
• In EarthBound, the characters have to fight Master Belch, one of the Giygas' minions. Master Belch later returns upgraded to Master Barf. In 463, after having faced The Chosen Four, Master Belch takes a bath in the Saturn Valley Hot Springs... that have regenerative properties.
• The Alt Text for this comic seems simple enough at first glance. Kirby's girlfriend is Jigglypuff, also a Pokemon, and the only one around that would actually help him facing a Rayquaza then say Pikachu or the Pokemon Trainer. But for the new gen, she's now part Fairy type, which are basically Dragon killers (deals double damage and are immune to anything Dragon).
• The Meaningful Release Date of the final strip. October 3rd marks the end of Super Smash Bros. Brawl's era and the beginning of a new one- Although the series goes far beyond Super Smash Bros, its primary inspiration and namesake was from its Brawl incarnation. It's fitting that the series goes out with what started it in the first place.
• Why did Kirby and King Dedede call Meta Knight about the trip to visit Master Hand in Meet Me At Final Destination (Part 3)? Because Kirby's The Ditz (he did put money in a photo booth only to take pictures of Jigglypuff outside of it). Dedede, on the other hand, knows that this won't accomplish anything but annoying Meta Knight. Which is exactly what he wants.
• Master Hand doesn't show up until the end of the series. Just like how he doesn't show up in Super Smash Bros. until the end of Classic Mode/1 Player Mode.
• Headmaster Hand was Master Hand all along! In Cocoon Academy, he was turned into a lefty by Dark Matter. This made people think he was actually Crazy Hand. However, when we see Master Hand in Meet Me At Final Destination, he's a floating left hand.
• Why is Master Hand a lefty? Because he's Matthew, who is also a lefty.
• Looks like Kirby's suspicions turned out to be true.
• This series is adorable and lighthearted for the most part, but can be really disturbing at times. Now think about who the protagonist is...
• "Genocide is typically frowned upon, and yet Samus disagrees" seems like a particularly odd lyric of "Ode to the Minions". After all, didn't Samus spare the baby Metroid because she couldn't bring herself to commit genocide, even against the Metroids? Indeed, much of "Ode to the Minions" skews the facts to make the minions seem like innocent victims of the malicious heroes, neglecting to mention that many of those minions would kill the hero if given the chance. But, remember that the song is being sung by Bowser to his minions, and the reason for the skewed facts and perspectives becomes clear: "Ode to the Minions" is villain propaganda.
• In this comic, Fire Emblem: Awakening's Frederick has to explain to some poor sap that lances lose to axes, axes lose to swords, swords lose to lances... and everything loses to Frederick. The funny thing is, Frederick in his base class has access to all three types of weapons, so the entire triangle really does lose to him!
• More along the lines of "Oh, I get it now", but the surreal nature of the Walugi comics makes it difficult to realize that the joke of "Waluigi Strikes Back" is that this is literally what happens; Waluigi hits Luigi on the back.
• From the music video "Wa-Elegy," which came out after the comic's run, but was made by Taranto and uses his version of Waluigi. When Waluigi mentions the Inklings getting into Smash instead of him, we see some Nintendo fans, one of which is holding a sign that says "I'm just glad it's not Waluigi." This is despite the fact that many people support the idea of Waluigi being playable in Smash. This scene makes more sense when you realize that this is just how Waluigi sees it. He thinks that he was left out of Smash because everyone hates him, not realizing how much support he actually has. It's a self-defeating mindset similar to that of Bowler Hat Guy from Meet the Robinsons when he claims in a flashback that everyone "hated" him, while we see a young BHG sullenly ignoring many kids who want to be friends with him. They're even both Dastardly Whiplashes.
• Kirby as a lawyer (even if he's just using Edgeworth's "powers") becomes doubly amusing considering who he's named after.
• One early comic has Kirby and Pac-Man fighting each other. Kirby inhales and Pac-Man chomps, and they both disappear from eating each other. Pac-Man eating Kirby is a bit odd since he doesn't actually eat living creatures (usually just ghosts and fruits)... then you realize Kirby is effectively a sphere, making him akin to the Pac and Power Pellets that Pac-Man always eats.

Fridge Horror:

• In "Phillip's Box", we see Waluigi save the day by making the "evil" Philips CD-i spirits leave. We never learn what he did, but if you look at the last panel, you can see that his hands are on his (Hawaiian) shirt. ...which either means he's tugging it in accomplishment... or he's putting it back on...
  • Want this to be worse? In the same panel, you can clearly see that the suspenders for his pants aren't on his shoulders. Meaning....
    • A naked maniac follows you, maybe fireball-launching. Can you blame those spirits?
    • Considering it was only a few seconds, it's possible that Waluigi merely took his shirt off, possibly his pants too. Considering Ariel's reaction to Waluigi in a speedo in an earlier comic, it isn't too much of a stretch to assume that would be enough to scare off the spirits.
  • Also, if you follow the Waluigi thing above in the brilliance, think about it. An evil person married to the strongest witch. The possibilities are endless...
• As Matt said in the mouseover text, "Resourcefulness" and "If It Takes A Lifetime". Mario re-lives his life 254 times just to get over a single pit!
• In Ode to Minions again, you can see a Lakitu with a picture of his wife, who is in fact Flurrie, and his daughter. Then, Mario kills him. So Mario kills his friend's husband. Sleep well.
  • I thought the implication was that his wife, the Lakitu, took a picture with Flurrie (she is a famous actress, after all). Slightly dampens the horror.
• Does Eario know his son Waluigi has been sealed in an assist trophy?
  • Given that the last arc seems to show that he has phone service and is calling him, yes.

Fridge Logic

See here.

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