Pikachu Is A Mario, Mario Is A Pikachu, And There May Be Hope For This World Yet
There are few things in this world that I love more than when Pikachu dresses up as someone or something else in officially licensed merchandise. At the very least, it's always interesting --- like that plush doll of Pikachu dressing up as Charizard that raises a whole lot of questions about how Pokémon relate to each other --- and in most cases, it's downright adorable. Heck, Cosplay Pikachu even made it into the games, and having Pikachu dress as a luchador is one of the many things that made Pokémon Alpha Sapphire the greatest game of an entire generation.
Now, though, it has been taken to the next level. At the end of this month, Nintendo and the Pokémon Company are releasing a line of merchandise based around an idea so simple that I'm amazed it's taken this long to happen: Pikachu dressed as Mario. And I need all of it to live.
The Mario Pikachu line (which also features a Luigi Pikachu, for those of you whose tastes skew more towards the Lovable Loser types) has a line of products that cover pretty much everything you could want, from plush dolls to t-shirts to notebooks to keychains to playing cards, and even a new box set of cards for the Pokémon trading card game, most of which is built around the same image of Pikachu recreating a classic Mario Bros. design with a bunch of other Pokémon.
If we're looking for a one-to-one comparison here, I think Blastoise is meant to stand in for Bowser, with Squirtle as a Koopa Troopa, Tornadus as Lakitu, Inkay as a Blooper, and Shroomish as a Goomba, among other things. I'm not really sure what Psyduck is supposed to be --- although please, please let me get a Cosplay Psyduck dressed as Princess Peach --- but I think the most disturbing thing here is that Mario Pikachu seems to have ripped a Super Mushroom right off the back of a Paras.
Pokémon is brutal, y'all.
The Mario Pikachu merchandise makes its debut in Japanese Pokémon stores on October 29, and we're all praying to Arceus that it makes its way to American shores sometime soon.