My email inbox has been a lot busier lately thanks to new folks finding The Bowser Shrine and writing in! I'm not sure if that's due to the excitement surrounding the Super Mario Galaxy Movie or what, but it's certainly been nice! I've actually become short-term backlogged by some new fan contributions!

One such new fan is Tony. I say "new", but apparently he had first found the website about 15 years ago. Something reminded him of the website, and he checked back all these years later to see if the site was still alive. Not only is it still alive, but it might be one of the most active Mario fan sites that still exists!

My fan site might be old (like me!), but I take pride in the fact that some of my obsession, dedication, and dragon-like hoarding skills from multiple decades ago has resulted in some Bowser preservation that might otherwise have been lost to history. One example is the Bowser lunging render from the Nintendo 64 era. The only ever surviving depiction seemed to be saved on my computer (and subsequent floppy disk or CD backups) from the beginning of the century.

I remember finding a Wallpaper of Bowser in Mario Party 2 from a Mario fan site in the year 2000 and saving it. Later when I made The Bowser Shrine, I cut this Bowser render out from the background using Jasc Paint Shop Pro 7 (also from the year 2000). Dare I admit that to this day, I still use that program for my image editing needs because of how used I am to it (or I might just be super old school).

I believe I used the "Freehand" tool with selection type "Point to Point" and clicked around the border of Bowser using straight lines. I didn't have a "Feather" value set, nor any anti-aliasing, so the end result looked a bit rough and jagged with mouse tooth edges.

In some back-and-forth email communications with Tony, he revealed something that made my ears perk up: he's an artist! That means he actually knows what he's doing with these digital image editors! I asked if Tony thought he could excavate that dinosaur better than I can/did, and in Tony's next reply, attached was this smooth-edged, transparent, much more professional-looking job than my version!

Apparently their method wasn't too much more different than mine. They used GIMP (also an old program, but one that's received updates over the years unlike my PSP7!). They selected the "Pen" tool, then very carefully marked a path around the edges of Bowser, then cut it out and cleaned it up a bit. They mentioned that it took some patience.

Compare below my version on the left versus Tony's effort on the right. On this black background they may look almost identical, but if you compare them by flipping back and forth between two tabs, it may show the improvements a lot easier:

As mentioned, unless both images above are loaded in separate tabs and flipped back-and-forth between the two, the differences will be very hard to notice. It's mostly in the smoothness of the edges. I tend to have some perfectionist tendencies sometimes, and I always knew that this extraction could be done better. Sure enough, it was able to be greatly improved thanks to Tony's efforts! A perfect character like Bowser deserves this type of dedication!

I've mentioned it several times before, but it's worth mentioning it again: N64 Bowser is my most favorite depiction of Bowser of all-time. A lot of people have a certain fondness to how the 3D renders of Mario characters looked in the Nintendo 64 era. Somehow the textures seemed so much more realistic. The characters were lit well and cast believable shadows. Bowser was a very saturated deep bold orange in those days, and I thought he's never looked better. It was hard to believe they even had the computing power back in 1996 to generate these images!

The tone of the style I love best. This isn't your clumsy oaf comic relief version of Bowser. This is more like the T-Rex or raptors seen in Jurassic Park, hellbent on destruction. The rage in his eyes and ferocity in his face gives clear indication that he is unwilling to be reasoned with. His metal studded collar and arm clamps look so heavy and unforgiving. His head is massive and seemingly a third of his tank-like body proportions alone. This was a Bowser that was genuinely feared. Bwa ha ha ha!

I recently started a new file on Super Mario 64 last weekend just for old time's sake, and I beat the first Bowser after collecting 8 stars in only an hour or two! Looks like I've still got it!

I will always wonder where some of these source digital images came from to make these wallpapers in the late 1990s and early 2000s. A lot of people still had dial up modems that were very slow, and a lot of websites had bandwidth limits. As a result, many large images were shrunk down to pitifully tiny sizes by today's standards. Hopefully the original raw full resolution images still exist in some Nintendo vault somewhere...

Summary:

• 1 updated render added to the Bowser Renders section
• 1 contributor added to the Fan Contributions section

(No spoilers!)(No spoilers!)(No spoilers!)

It may be April Fools today, but two space-related things happened today that were real: Artemis II, the first manned mission to the moon since 1972 successfully launched, as did the The Super Mario Galaxy Movie! Just like 3 years ago, I made a point of seeing it opening night, despite it being a Wednesday in the middle of the school/work week! That way, I was able to uncover my eyes and ears earlier, and return to browsing social media without fear of seeing any spoilers!

Given that I am in the privileged position of having seen the full feature length film now, and there are many that haven't had the chance to, I will absolutely be respectful with everything said going forward. I will not reveal any major plot points, surprises, etc, and focus on just what I thought overall as a big picture. Anything I mention specifically is something that was released ahead of the movie as part of promotional trailers/spots/posters, etc. I can understand if you would still rather not take the risk and rather circle back to this later after you get to see the movie yourself. Honestly the best way to do it is probably to just go into the movie completely cold!

The movie takes off running, and doesn't really look back. It is both a video game related movie, as well as a kids/family movie, so constant action is pretty much a given. It also very much feels like it is a movie for fans, by fans, so there is A TON of fan service and references throughout. This is an iconic francise that has remained big for 40 years after all, and has been a staple in most people's childhoods (no matter which Mario game they first started out on!)

The movie was very good at keeping Super Mario Galaxy (2007) for Nintendo Wii central to the theme. This was a critically acclaimed game that was loved by many! This might be a bit shocking, but I only started playing the original this year in anticipation of this upcoming movie. It's an enjoyable play for sure, but I find it surprisingly hard! Despite playing little bits every weekend, I only got 50 stars, and never quite beat the game in time. However, all the references were very much fresh in my memory.

I really like how well Rosalina was done in this movie. Her voice actor, Brie Larson, mentioned that Super Mario Galaxy was a big part of her growing up, and that Rosalina was one of her favorite characters. To be able to grow up and voice that character in their movie debut must have been a dream come true for her! I laughed quite a bit, because in the game, she mostly just stood around and read stories. However, just seeing her in the movie trailer alone, she is seen to be quite powerful and capable of looking after herself!

I mentioned last night just how much I felt spoiled to see Bowser get so much screentime in a feature length film in the original Super Mario Bros. Movie in 2023. As the final boss, you would normally only see Bowser at the end of each Mario game. Being the central villain in the plot, he needs to be featured often in a feature length film, and he does! In the sequel, his son Bowser Jr. makes his debut as well, so now there is twice the Koopa royalty to enjoy throughout the movie!

Then there is Yoshi, the good dinosaur, who is very cute and adorable, and gets a lot of screen time! He fits in very well with the other characters, and is animated wonderfully! So there were basically very few moments when either Yoshi, Bowser, or Bowser Jr. weren't on the screen for me (which as a lover of reptiles - both good and bad alike - made me quite happy!)

There was some good character development in the movie as well. I won't say who specifically to let you find out on your own. The stage was setup quite well after the first movie, meaning that the second movie was able to continue things along with some of the returning characters. I feel like these movies are the best ways to get to know these characters!

In some other instances though, some of the new characters didn't get as much screen time as I would have thought, nor were they very consequnetial to the plot. There were a lot of new characters to get through though, and many were seen in some of the trailers and spots before the movie came out.

As I mentioned in a recent update regarding the movie, I feel like Illumination really lives up to their name when it comes to how each scene is lit. The lighting is like a character in itself it feels when it comes to setting the tone of a scene, or how the light itself interacts with the characters. Every frame is also bursting with all sorts of differnet colors as well, and is filled with content in both the foreground and the background. There were probably tons of Easter Eggs scattered throughout every scene that I probably missed.

Just like how in the Super Mario Galaxy game when you jump inside of those launch stars and go flying (with the camera spinning around Mario), the movie also generates this feeling of flying through the cosmos! There are many different settings that the characters are often flying out to, making the whole film feel like a journey! Many different Mario games over the past 40 years are given nods along the way as well.

In taking a quick peek at reviews for the first time, critics summarize it as "stunningly animated, paced at breakneck speed, and full of Easter Eggs", and that it's "made for fans". I would agree with that statement, and it's basically as I said above. These movies have been an absolute gift to us loyal fans! They are meant to entertain, not necessarily to win awards. The fan scores are very high, and in a way, that's what matters most! This movie will likely make a lot of money once again, which is good for business, and also good for the odds of more movies being made!

Usually a lot of sequels aren't as good as the original, but in my opinion, this one bucks the trend, and is at least as good as the original. It's very consistent and very much fits the feel of the last film. My friend that I saw the movie with (who's normally hard on movies) liked it even better than the original even! He said he had a smile on his face the whole time while watching the movie, and I felt I did too. It would be hard not to enjoy yourself with this one. It's a must see, and I already can't wait to see it again!

Gosh, it almost feels like Christmas Eve or something! I've already got my tickets for tomorrow night for the The Super Mario Galaxy Movie opening night! This time I'm going to see the movie in IMAX, which means Bowser's already big face is going to appear the biggest I have ever seen!

Bowser was so amazingly emotive in the first movie with a wide range of facial expressions. Not only did he express a wide range of emotions, he also proved himself to be quite the round character as the movie went along (and we're talking round!) What I mean is that he was complex, multi-faceted, and had a deep personality. In fact, Bowser (like many of the RPG games) may have the strongest and most developed personality out of all the Mario characters.

The Koopa King was graced with one of the greatest entrances ever in the original movie, proving his formidable power and might immediately. Only shortly later, he demonstrated ruthlessless and even evil as Luigi was first brought to him. It was a pretty intense scene that was pretty surprising for a family movie! However, not long after, it was clear that a lot of Bowser's rage came from being a jealous and lonely lover. His awkward attempts at flirting and romance were some of the funniest parts of the whole movie. Of course, this character was brought to life so wonderfully by the very talented and very aptly cast Jack Black.

What makes these movies the most enjoyable for Koopa fans like us is that Bowser has a lot of screen time throughout the entire movie. Serving as the final boss in most Mario games, he is normally only seen at the very end of the game, or periodically throughout the game. The last movie did such a good job making Bowser such a likable character. This next one may make him even more so, as he's even capable of doing the Puss In Boots look!

I recently rewatched the first film on a plane ride a couple of weeks ago. After seeing the last movie on opening night, I essentially gave it a perfect score in my short post after seeing it. In giving the movie another full watch three years later, I would basically reaffirm that score. The movie was everything I could have hoped for and more! I was in such awe when I saw it for the first time. Bowser was absolutely done the greatest justice I could have ever hoped for by the creative team. Watching with closed captioning helped on the second watch, as the movie definitely comes at ya fast like a video game!

Perhaps that's a bit surprising for most to hear how much I enjoyed the film being such a Bowser megafan. Many may have thought that I might be some sort of Bowser purist - that Bowser can only be depicted a certain rigid way, or that he has to be perfectly true to the games. I'm sure it is always a frustration for production teams making content involving very popular franchises like Star Trek, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, etc, to live up to the perhaps unrealistic expectations of hardcore fans. However, I think Illumination studios working with Nintendo was such a genius partnership. These movies deliver such unbeliveable fan service for us, and you can tell that there is so much heart and effort put into the makings of it from the creative team!

I'm sure this film's 98-minute run time will feel as high octane as the last movie. There are so many new characters going to be introduced on top of all the returning ones from the last film. I am really hoping there can be more character development, and even some expansion of some character's backstories (as was briefly touched on in the original movie). It seems like movies like these may be the only time we get to know these characters a lot better (e.g. Mario's parents and family). The original video games were amazingly simplistic and didn't really offer much in terms of story or why things were happening aside from brief blurbs in their instruction manuals.

I will offer my spoiler-free thoughts before jumping into bed after seeing the movie tomorrow night! It will be a work night, so I'll probably have to be brief about it. Enjoy the movie everyone, and make sure to give everyone a chance to see it before mentioning any part of the movie that wasn't officially released as part of the promtional material!