Talk:Panser

Merge with Volcano Lotus
These two enemies have the same Japanese name and ultimately have very similar behavior. While they are divergent in appearance and behavior to an extent, I'd reckon they're more similar than different, being largely stationary flowers with similarly-shaped buds that repeatedly open their buds to shoot fireballs in an arc. It seems like the significant differences between these two are similar in scope to the redesign of Bob-ombs for Super Mario Bros. 3 (which have a different Japanese name from the Super Mario Bros. 2 version), Pokeys in Super Mario World, or even Shy Guys in Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (they look similar, but have very different behavior from Super Mario Bros. 2).

I'd reckon that these are meant to be the same enemy with a somewhat revised design and behavior, and it seems likely (though this is speculation) that a Japanese player would see these two as the same enemy. I'm looking to cases like Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars Sparky or Yoshi's Islands Piro Dangle as points of comparison; being enemies that changed only slightly in appearance and behavior between games but were given different names during localization, for one reason or another (and are now recognized as the same entity by the wiki). This appears to be a similar case at its core.

I will also add the information from Doc von Schmeltwick's vote and comment below, where they mentioned that these enemies are referred to as the same creature with a different form,, as well as their contention that this article would probably already be merged in the (again admittedly hypothetical) scenario where these enemies had always had the same localized name.

Proposer: Deadline: August 15, 2023, 23:59 GMT

Support

 * 1) Per proposal.
 * 2) - I think it's a bit early to propose this, but I want to point out that a) the red (basic) Panser has a near-identical attack patternto Volcano Lotus, with the only difference being projectile size and speed; b) at least one Japanese guide has  (with the guide that listed them separately also listing "Sidestepper" and Mario Bros. "Crab" separately, among other oddities), c) SMW was the first game to start bringing back SMB2 enemies en masse (with the localizers seemingly missing the connection on this one), and d it making the relation to Lava Lotus and Wild Ptooie Piranha much less of a snarl to work through. Also) I want to ask this: had the localizers given them the same name, would we split them?

Oppose

 * 1) Different enemies with different names and different behavior. They are related, but they are different enemies.
 * 2) No; See comments.
 * 3) Per Arend's comment
 * 4) Per Axis and Arend.
 * 5) Per all. Even on my own, i do not think they should be merged.

Comments
Axis, the whole point of this proposal is that they don't have different Japanese names, so I would question why you're bringing that up in your vote... Wiki precedent is that Japanese names take precedent in these scenarios, or else Sparky and Piro Dangle wouldn't be merged.

There's several reasons why I oppose this: This proposal hinges on the fact that the similar appearance and behavior, and most notably the exact same Japanese name, is evidence that Panser and Volcano Lotus were intended to be the same thing, but the Perfect Ban Mario Daijiten alone is evidence that Nintendo treats them as separate beings regardless of name and appearance. 16:04, August 1, 2023 (EDT)
 * 1) There's three variants of Panser, differentiated by petal color: one remains stationary, another can move around and the third chases the player. In contrast, Volcano Lotus can only remain stationary.
 * 2) Volcano Lotus look much different, being bigger and having no face. Contrast that to other Subcon enemies that made it to the Koopa Troop, Ninji and Pokey, whose official artwork for World at least match with that of Super Mario USA.
 * 3) Most importantly for this specific case, the Perfect Ban Mario Daijiten, an official Japanese Nintendo guide published by Shogakuken, actually lists Panser and Volcano Lotus as separate entries, despite having the exact same name there. The descriptions are even different as well, with Volcano Lotus' titling it as a Lava Lotus on land, whereas Panser doesn't mention such relation.
 * The same book also separates Sidestepper and Crab, Fighter Fly, Firefly, and Fly, B-Fly and Bē, and Spark and Spack, and merges Drum Fire and Fire for arcade DK but separates them for Game Boy DK., simply saying they look different between games as an in-universe divergence in evolution (which modern concepts of redesigning renders as something of an artifact). Doc von Schmeltwick (talk) 16:30, August 1, 2023 (EDT)
 * Another counterpoint alongside Doc's comment regarding your first point, Arend: Bob-ombs, which the wiki considers to be the same enemy between Super Mario Bros. 2 and Super Mario Bros. 3, have two variations in Super Mario Bros. 3, only one of which (the tank variety, which only appears late in the game, long after the wind-up variety) behaves the same as the Bob-ombs in Super Mario Bros. 2, yet we consider these to be the same enemy nonetheless owing to their similar (but not identical, much like the Panser and Volcano Lotus) appearances and behavior between games. 18:24, August 1, 2023 (EDT)