Talk:Ink

Delete

Quoting from myself on Discord, plus and minus a few things.

I question the point of this new article. This is a generic article about the effect of the worst Mario Kart item, Blooper, plus the effect of Inky Piranha Plants and the Inky Racket. However, all of those already have articles, articles that go more in depth about them than this. So why would a reader want to go to this article if they want one of those articles? All this article is doing it making it so that every time one of the three prior articles is updated, someone has to go back and update this article, and since readers wouldn't want to go here anyway this is wasting editor time. Best I can tell is that the article exists because "Ink" (From Inky Piranha Plants) is something that can be destroyed for points in Mario Kart Tour and therefore it has names in every language Mario Kart Tour is released in. This is not a good reason to create an article because that would mean every named one off enemy projectile would also have an article. Instead, we can have Inky Piranha Plant's naming section list these names for ink.

Salmancer (talk) 18:23, September 22, 2026 (UTC)

If the same ink mechanic is applied by three separate sources and given a name in Mario Kart Tour, I don't see why that information should be split across three different articles (though ink piles seemingly do not currently have an article). The fact that a reader can look for information about ink with Bloopers in mind and see that the mechanic was adapted for a different enemy in Super Mario 3D Land is a bonus benefit. B700465189a9 (talk) 18:31, September 22, 2026 (UTC)

I wouldn't go that far. Bloopers don't make balls of ink. They spray the player with ink, and that spray is probably not a projectile as far as game mechanics are concerned. Hitscan Bloopers?. Only Inky Piranha Plants make balls of ink, and only those balls of ink have a point granting action in Mario Kart Tour. While they may have the same effect, they get there through completely different means. I would argue Mario Kart Tour is only distinctly naming the Inky Piranha Plant projectile, and not whatever Blooper is doing to place ink onto the player's screen. Salmancer (talk) 18:46, September 22, 2026 (UTC)

You could make the same argument for fireball and Ice Ball. These and ink are character- or species-dependent projectiles that nevertheless occur in more than one subject; ink (obviously in the context of Mario games) can therefore not be ontologically tied to one specific species (especially since it is employed by both Bloopers and Inky Piranha Plants within the same game). The fact that Tour considers "Ink" a standalone entity (something also applied to Ball of Fire) was what ultimately pushed me to create the article. -- KOOPA CON CARNE 18:32, September 22, 2026 (UTC)

I feel this argument is weak. Fireball is a mess of an article and really shouldn't be used as precedent of anything, and aside from that its so ubiquitous across the franchise that collecting them all in one place actually serves a purpose. Meanwhile, Ice Balls have two appearances which lack dedicated articles, Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U (no, fireball and Green Fireball don't count) and Mario Golf: Super Rush (no, Special Shot (Mario Golf: Super Rush) doesn't count). Salmancer (talk) 18:34, September 22, 2026 (UTC)

I should probably also bring up our Superball article, or rather, the lack thereof. Superballs are only created by Superball Mario, and the alternate language names for Superballs fit comfortably on Superball Mario's page. Salmancer (talk) 18:36, September 22, 2026 (UTC)

As stated above, I think Blooper ink and Inky Piranha Plant ink are not the same thing in Mario Kart Tour They have the same effect, but not the same method. Blooper says "your screen is covered in ink now", Inky Piranha Plant actually has to shoot the player/shoot where the player will go. And in any case, both articles can cross link to each other without much fuss, and certainly without making an entire third article. ("Inky Piranha Plants can also cover the player's screen with ink", "Being hit by the shot fired by an Inky Piranha Plant covers the player's screen with ink, just like the effect of Blooper.") Salmancer (talk) 19:03, September 22, 2026 (UTC)

"They have the same effect, but not the same method. Blooper says 'your screen is covered in ink now', Inky Piranha Plant actually has to shoot the player/shoot where the player will go" The versatility of a subject and its varied provenance is exactly why it would benefit from having an article. Superball doesn't currently have that prerogative; it's intrinsic to one form in a handful of games and it's indeed more practical to cover it on that form's article. On the other hand, describing gameplay-relevant instances of ink in disparate articles just encumbers readers looking for information on the substance itself, rather than whichever entity secretes it. The fact that fireball's article can be improved to condense information available on other articles and make it flow better doesn't have a bearing on this one's existence. -- KOOPA CON CARNE 19:35, September 22, 2026 (UTC), edited 19:41, September 22, 2026 (UTC)

Additionally, seeing as this article was literally just created, it might be a little bit premature to make any claims about its pointlessness/usefulness just yet. Wandering Poplin (talk) 19:40, September 22, 2026 (UTC)

To be completely fair, I wouldn't otherwise argue for keeping an article simply because it might become useful in the future. -- KOOPA CON CARNE 19:43, September 22, 2026 (UTC)

I would be okay with an "ink pile" page (That's apparently what we're calling the result of an Inky P. Plant's shot hitting the floor in Tour) but not an generic ink page. Salmancer (talk) 17:25, September 23, 2026 (UTC)

This page seems fine to me. Could it be improved? Sure. Should it be deleted? No, I don't think so. Per @B700465189a9 @Koopa con Carne, and especially @Wandering Poplin. This page is barely a day old, and doesn't have anything about it that I see warranting a deletion request. I-AHH-nD255 (talk/stalk) 00:07, September 24, 2026 (UTC)

I'm leaning on "when in doubt, keep" for this kind of thing. It's me, Mario! (Talk / Stalk) 03:33, September 24, 2026 (UTC)