Okay, but can you drink the machine?
The Mario Plushie Cinematic Universe, or MCPU for short, is a series of interconnected plush videos by Luigi Yoshi Shell and Mario Master 412. The series features characters across various Nintendo franchises, such as Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, and much more.
The series can be found here
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This series provides examples of:
- Action Bomb: The Bomb Bird.
- Action Hero: Mario. In videos not centered around him, he still always manages to show up and save the day.
- Adaptational Dumbass: While not exceedingly smart in-game, Wario is at least cunning and good with money. In this series, he's more of The Ditz.
- Adaptational Intelligence: Waluigi, who was more of The Dragon in the games compared to this series where he's more of a chessmaster who gets held down by Wario all the time.
- Ambiguously Related: In the games, Bowser Jr most likely isn't related to the other Koopalings, but in this series, he has a more brotherly attitude with them.
- Ambiguous Situation:
- Is Shrek actually a cop?
- In Hoverboard, why did Wario kidnap Shrek if all he wanted was the hoverboard?
- Anti-Climax: In Valentine's Day, Wario and Waluigi set up the meeting with Kamek for a while, with dramatic music and a spooky atmosphere setting a mood, just for it to completely peter out when they actually see him.
- Artistic License – Anatomy: During the fight between Mario and the germ in Jr's Sickness, Mario slides down one nostril while the germ slides down the other. Then, they both end up back at the same place. That doesn't happen in real noses.
- Artistic License – Biology: Safe to say Jr's Sickness is pretty scientifically inaccurate.
- The disease Jr. has is generally regarded to be strep throat, like Larry. Strep, however, is not a virus, even though the germ in Jr's nose is referred to as that. It's an infection of the throat.
- Furthermore, Mario dresses up as a white blood cell because "viruses attack white blood cells". First of all, strep throat doesn't necessarily attack white blood cells. Second, attacking white blood cells is not a trademark of a virus. If Jr. had some sort of disease that attacks white blood cells specifically, it would be some form of cancer or AIDS. So, safe to say, pretty inaccurate.
- Bait-and-Switch:
- In Iggy's Alexa, Wendy asks weakly for Iggy to help her up. Iggy does just this, but immediately after helping her up, he uses this opportunity to punch her again.
- Also, this gem from Mario And Luigi Turn Into Babies:
Luigi: Well, Mario... I guess this is it. Through this door must be...
Luigi/Mario: Taco Bell/The Devil's lair. - Bratty Half-Pint: Subverted with Bowser Jr. He is very distinctly this in the games, but in this series, he's just a normal teenager.
- Call-Back: The other videos of the series are pretty frequently referenced.
- Cartoon Bomb: No explosions are fatal or show any dents or craters.
- Character Catchphrase: Mario commonly says "It's-a me, a-Mario!" before beating the bad guy.
- Chekhov's Gun: In Hoverboard, Jr. and Larry are seen trying to bowl with a baseball and an empty bottle. Later on, Jr. needs to aim and throw the ball perfectly to defeat Wario.
- "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: The B-plot of Jr's Sickness. Kamek had his wand next to him on the bed the whole time, and if he had found it earlier, he wouldn't have had his Face–Heel Turn.
- Creepy Child: Baby Peach is this to Wario and Waluigi.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Luigi in Babies, when he drops his dumbness to step up and battle Devil.
- Cutaway Gag: Mostly averted. There is one in Mario And Luigi Turn Into Babies, but it quickly abandons them after.
- Damsel in Distress: Peach is an interesting example with Valentine's Day, where she is technically an example of this trope while being in love with the antagonists.
- Delicate and Sickly: Downplayed and zig-zagged: Larry is pretty sick to the point that he's bedridden, but he's not on the brink of death, and he's not delicate.
- Depending on the Writer: Luigi's personality varies wildly, going from the Straight Man in Mario Master 412s videos to the Cloud Cuckoolander in Luigi Yoshi Shell's.
- The Dragon: Kamek is one to Bowser. Eventually though, he leaves.
- Dude Magnet: Peach gains the affection of Mario, obviously, but in Love Potion, Wario and Waluigi both become attracted to her.
- Dumb Jock: Roy certainly has the energy to be one.
- Dynamic Entry: Bowser has one of these in Hoverboard.
- Dysfunctional Family: The Koopalings. Downplayed in that some of them get along, but generally when they're together, they are constantly fighting.
- Einstein Hair: Ludwig's hair is big and poofy in a way that parallels Beethoven.
- Face–Heel Turn: Kamek has one in Jr's Sickness after he learns Bowser lost his wand, which leads him to trap Mario in Bowser Jr's nose.
- "Fantastic Voyage" Plot: The plot of Jr's Sickness, where Mario has to venture into Bowser Jr's immune system to fight the germ causing his sickness.
- Fat and Skinny: Wario is the Fat to Waluigi's Skinny.
- Funny Foreigner: Mostly subverted with Mario. He no longer has his thick Italian accent, and the only reminder the series offers is his obsession with pasta.
- The Generic Guy: Bowser Jr and Larry, likely to balance out the rest of the Koopalings' eccentric personalities.
- Go-Karting with Bowser: In Jr's Sickness, Bowser pays his rival, Mario, to fix his son's illness, and they have an uneasy alliance after.
- Gone Horribly Right: In Valentine's Day, Peach DOES fall in love with the first person, or people, she sees, but it leads her to hate Mario and her daughter, Baby Peach.
- Good Parents: Bowser's a pretty good dad to Bowser Jr.
- Green Screen: A (terrible) green screen is used to convey Mario's adventure in Jr's Sickness.
- Hand Wave: In Mario And Luigi Turn Into Babies, the Koopa's voice changes when he is turned older, but Mario and Luigi's voices remain the same after changing to babies.
- Healing Magic Is the Hardest: Larry is unable to use his magic to cure himself of his strep throat.
- Heroic Sacrifice: In Jr's Sickness, Mario jumps in front of Kamek's magic to save Bowser. Downplayed in that Mario doesn't actually die, but is just rendered unable to fight.
- Heroic Second Wind: When the family is fighting in Jr's Sickness, Bowser Jr. recovers from his sickness just in time to join in on the fight with Kamek.
- Hidden Depths: In Valentine's Day, Wario and Waluigi acknowledge Wario's psychic powers and never bring it up again.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: In Jr's Sickness, Kamek is defeated by Bowser Jr., who uses his own wand against him.
- Holiday Episode: Valentine's Day is this. Or, at least, was intended to be this, as it was uploaded on March 14th, one month after Valentine's Day.
- Hostile Weather: Mario and Luigi are subject to targeted lightning bolts in Mario And Luigi Turn Into Babies as they approach Devil's lair.
- Idiot Ball: Peach clearly notices her drink is different in Valentine's Day and still drinks it. Even if it hadn't been spiked, it could still give her a disease.
- Inopportune Voice Cracking: A few characters, to signify that they're weird or nerdy.
- Mario Master 412's Iggy voice is basically all voice cracks.
- Luigi Yoshi Shell's Kamek voice, too.
- And Toad, of course.
- It Was There the Whole Time: Said basically word for word by Kamek after finding his wand was, in fact, there the whole time.
- Keet: Larry, like his appearances in the Mario games.
- Killed Mid-Sentence: Played for Laughs:Naruto: Naruto Uzumaki— (explosion)
- Jerkass: Compared to other appearances on either Teddy or Matthew's channel, this interpretation of Morton is a lot meaner.
- Lame Last Words: See Killed Mid-Sentence above.
- Large Ham: Many times.
- The Hovererboard has a lot of great Big "NO!"'s from Bowser Jr. and Larry.
- Iggy. Just Iggy.
- Wario has a couple moments in Valentine's Day.
Wario: I'm SCARED, Waluigi! It's so scary and dark in here, I don't want to go in! - Leaning on the Fourth Wall: All over the place.
- Many references are made to being in a video, or refer to 2022 as "The Year of the Mariomaster".
- Characters will frequently acknowledge Montages.
Bowser Jr: Does he think I'm stupid? Answer in the comments below-- - Love Potion: Wario and Waluigi make one for Peach in Valentine's Day.
- Love Triangle: Wario, Waluigi, and Peach.
- Machine Monotone: Alexa, naturally.
- Man of a Thousand Voices: Mario Master 412 and Luigi Yoshi Shell virtually had to be this to play that many characters.
- Minimalist Cast: All of the characters, depending on who posted the video, are played by Luigi Yoshi Shell or Mario Master 412.
- Montages: Frequently used to show characters acting out their plans.
- Monstrous Germs: The germ found in Jr's nose is this.
- Mood Whiplash: Used frequently, usually Played for Laughs.
- In Mario and Luigi Turn Into Babies, it goes from the tense scene in the sinister Devil's lair to a light and funny scene with Mario and Luigi bickering, immediately into them barely dodging lightning bolts.
- In Iggy's Alexa, the Alexa threatening to kill Iggy immediately into "see you at family board game night".
- In Valentine's Day, the spooky scene of Wario and Waluigi approaching Kamek into his actual reveal.
- Mythology Gag:
- Iggy's Alexa is based off an old video of Mario Master 412's by the same name.
- In Jr's Sickness, Jr. refers to a nosebleed from his "emo phase". This references an old, now deleted series by Mario Master 412, Bowser Jr. The Gangster, a Darker and Edgier version of his normal plush videos following Jr's life of crime.
- Nerdy Nasalness: Luigi Yoshi Shell's Kamek has shades of this.
- Nice Guy: Larry just wants everyone to get along.
- Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: In Mario Master 412's videos, both Waluigi and Kamek have inconsistent accents. Mario lampshades Kamek's inconsistent accent, and Kamek is shown to have dropped the British accent entirely by the next video. He acknowledges this while talking to Wario and Waluigi.
- Iggy also has this, but it's Played for Laughs. Sometimes Iggy just entirely drops his squeaky voice for a line or two.
- Only Sane Man: Waluigi's the Straight Man to Wario.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: A few times, with a rare (for this page) Played for Drama.
- Luigi suddenly shifting to a serious face when volunteering to bet against Devil.
- Alexa becoming evil when possessed.
- Papa Wolf: Bowser is very protective of Jr in Jr's Sickness.
- Phoneaholic Teenager: Wendy is this to a comedic extent.
- Pink Means Feminine: Wendy's outfit, like the games, heavily features pink.
- Playing with Fire: Mario shoots fireballs to defeat Wario and Waluigi at the end of Valentine's Day.
- Police Are Useless: Shrek. Though, it's debatable if he's actually a cop or not.
- The Pollyanna: Larry keeps a positive attitude in the emergency meeting.
- Post-Climax Confrontation: In Jr's Sickness, Kamek fights Bowser for losing his wand after Bowser Jr's sickness is cured.
- Potty Humor: Given that this series is made by children, it shows up a few times.
- Wario's farts.
- Bowser Jr. attempting to use kitty litter to fix his stain.
- A few reminders that Baby Peach, who seems kind of murder-y, is, in fact, just a baby.
Baby Peach: Mommy, I need a diaper change. - Real Men Wear Pink: Roy's very manly, but still has pink glasses and a pink shell.
- Red Herring: A few examples in Iggy's Alexa.
- While Alexa is speaking, there is a shadow of Waluigi talking, implying he's behind the whole thing.
- There's another scene where Iggy hears Roy talking through the Alexa-controlling device, implying HE'S behind it all.
- Of course, eventually it's revealed that Wendy's behind it all.
- Running Gag:
- In Iggy's Alexa, him calling the Alexa "Alexis".
- Luigi's obsession with Taco Bell.
- The lion toy, who explodes the Alexa-controlling device and is Wario's lover.
- Self-Destruct Mechanism: The Alexa-controlling device has this.
- Shoot the Messenger: In Valentine's Day, Baby Peach beats up Kamek, who only created the love potion. Justified in that it's the only way to cure the effects of the potion on Peach.
- Shout-Out: Has its own page.
- Simpleton Voice:
- Morton, who says "mayun" every sentence.
- Roy's voice has a lot of Dumb Jock in it.
- Luigi. His monotone, low voice reflects his stupidity well.
- And Wario. Just Wario.
- Skewed Priorities: In Iggy's Alexa, Bowser brushes off Iggy and Wendy's fight, where Wendy was literally throwing bombs at Iggy. Justified in that this probably happens often in their house.
- Skyward Scream: In Iggy's Alexa, Iggy has one after his montage of failed attempts to get rid of the Alexa-controlling device.
- Stereotypical Nerd: Ludwig is a textbook example.
- Stuff Blowing Up: There are a total of 17 explosions in the series.
- The video with the most explosions is Iggy's Alexa, with 7 explosions. The one with the least is Jr's Sickness with only 2.
- Surprisingly Creepy Moment: Alexa is more like Surprisingly Creepy Character. Certain moments can have you going "wait... this is in a Mario parody?"
- Take a Third Option: The love potion in Valentine's Day makes Peach fall in love with the first person she sees. However, she sees Wario and Waluigi at the same time, so she ends up falling in love with them both.
- Take That!:Mario: Are you kidding me? Farkle??
- The Friend No One Likes: Iggy is very much the sibling equivalent. He is the most hated Koopaling, and he's blind to that.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Luigi has Taco Bell, and Mario has pasta.
- Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Basically, Baby Peach's character. Though, we don't know if she actually acts on these.
- Unexplained Accent: Ludwig has a British accent, sort of, which is strange considering the rest of the family has American accents.
- Verbal Tic: Morton says "mayun" after every sentence.
- Villain Protagonist: In Valentine's Day, Peach isn't interested in Wario or Waluigi, so what do they do? Why, spike her drink with a love potion, of course! This raises some unfortunate parallels to how some men will act with women who aren't interested in them, too.
- The Von Trope Family: Ludwig von Koopa.
- Waxing Lyrical: In Valentine's Day, Peach says "The cold never bothered me anyways."
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Shrek's fate after the events of Hoverboard is never revealed.
- Eeehhhh... I'm pretty tired so I'm just gonna go to sleep...
