The 'Shroom:Issue 178/Pipe Plaza

Director’s Notes
Written by:

Well, we've survived another year, and that means another wonderful Pipe Plaza for y'all to enjoy!! Things have been veeeery hectic on my end, as it's currently midterms for me! Send help!!! We've also just had auditions for the musical Pippin that we're supposed to be putting on in a few months! (fingers crossed it can still happen...) Also, the selection of K-pop albums at Barnes and Noble continues to disappoint me. Most times I'm there, it's almost entirely boy groups and that is not cool to me because I only like girl groups. It's very sad :<

Tragic complaints aside, it's a new year so that means cool new reads from the sections you love! If you like what you see and want to join us here, you can head to the sign up page to get started!

Have a good month and may 2022 treat us all better than the last two years!

Section of the Month

NIWA News
Written by:

Hello, everyone! Welcome to NIWA News, a section where I show the going ons with the wikis in our NIWA group within the last month!

Promotions
 * Kalina70 was promoted to the rank of Patroller on Nookipedia!

Poll Committee Discussion
Written by:



Hi everyone, it's BBQ Turtle here to bring you the first Poll Committee Discussion of 2022! We've got two particularly interesting polls to take a look at the results of this month, so let's get to it!

The News
There's nothing really much to report this month news-wise- we're just up to the usual, making and putting up polls as normal. There's nothing out of the ordinary going on behind the scenes at the moment, but sometimes that's a good thing- it does mean that there isn't a disaster going on either!

What is your opinion on the price of the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion?
Well, this certainly is an interesting topic at the moment. Unless you've been living under a Nintendo-free rock, you're probably aware that last year Nintendo introduced the Nintendo 64 (among other things) expansion for Nintendo Switch Online, and at the time it was announced, people certainly thought it was a bit of a hefty price tag for the content you got. Well, a few months in, opinions seem to be mostly the same, with all three options stating that the price was unreasonable coming out on top. Just over 42% of the votes, and nearly 1,000 voters picked the top option, also opting to not purchase the expansion, dominated the options of this poll, with the second place option having less than half of the total voters. Speaking of, second place said that they would purchase the expansion pass if more content was added. A fair few people seem to have this opinion, and it makes sense- I imagine if more people thought that the price was justified, they'd be more likely to get the expansion. Following that with about 12% of voters are those who purchased the plan anyway, despite thinking the price is unreasonable. I imagine they expect content to be added anyway, and are just looking to get in early- given they aren't a fan of the price, I don't think they're voting with their wallets so to speak. And following this option, we have the no opinion voters, coming smack bang in the middle of the options with 210 votes. As much as this doesn't give us much indication on what the voters thought, it does show that people who think it's a good price are definitely in the minority. Most of those who did think the price was reasonable do plan on purchasing the expansion, which is fairly logical. Following that are the voters who plan to purchase the expansion when more of the content is added- I imagine those are people with an eye for a bargain, as I'd imagine if you thought the price was reasonable you'd be happy to go for it anyway. Rounding out the voters for the poll are those who think the price is fine but still don't intend to buy, taking in just over 3% of the votes. There's many reasons people could be voting for this, including reasons such as not owning a Switch or just not fancying the particular content on offer, so it's hard to pick out a specific trend there. Overall though, it does seem like people on the whole don't really agree with the current price point for the Nintendo Switch Online expansion, and would for the most part like to see more content for it. I'd say that personally I'm in that same camp too, I haven't sprung for it yet but if a substantial amount of extra content was added, I might be able to see myself going for it in the future. I imagine if this poll was run again in the future, people's opinions probably would have changed based on the amount of content added, thought it'd be hard to say how much by until we know how much Nintendo would add.

WarioWare characters have had little interaction with characters from the greater Mario franchise besides Wario. Would you like to see more interactions?
And here we have a poll that has an even more overwhelmingly popular top option then the last one! And given I've recently started playing WarioWare: Get It Together!, it's a pretty good time for me to be analysing this poll! So, with a whopping 1,278 votes and taking nearly 62% of the voters, it's the option for seeing WarioWare characters have interaction with the Mario ones. A lot of people find the WarioWare characters to be very likeable, and a lot of people who've played the games can pick out a favourite (Personally, I'm a Cricket fan), so it's not a surprise that people would want to see them interact in some form or another with more characters they like. The next four options were all really close in votes, with only a 35 vote difference between the highest and the lowest. Interestingly, the one coming out on top of all those are those without an opinion. I'm not entirely sure what to glean from that though. The following options are all mainly geared towards people who'd prefer the appearances to be a little more restricted. Not everyone would like to see a full-on crossover, but perhaps a guest appearance as a playable character or more frequent cameos would go a long way for some people. And with a bit of a drop to round out the list is those that would rather there is no crossover between the two. Crossovers aren't for everyone, and some people would prefer the series to keep their own distinctions from each other, but this doesn't seem to be a huge crowd based on the results of this poll. I think the main takeaway is that people would like to see Mario and WarioWare characters interact with each other in some way or another- and I for one would be up for seeing that too.

Conclusion
And that wraps up all of the polls for now! Be sure to come back next month to hear another member of the poll committee to discuss the results of some of our upcoming polls, including the one that's on the front page right now! It's always fun to come back and see it your option is the one that came out on top. And now, I'll leave you to enjoy the rest of the 'Shroom!

Mario Calendar
Written by:

Happy New Year everyone! I don’t have much to say, except for the fact that I hope you had an awesome December and end of your 2021! New year means new Mario Calendar, so let’s-a-go!

Region Abbreviations

Console Abbreviations


 * January 1
 * 1983 (NA): Donkey Kong (TI-99)
 * 1998 (JP): Wrecking Crew '98 (SNES)


 * January 2
 * 2015 (EU): Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (Wii U)


 * January 3
 * 2015 (AU): Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker (Wii U)


 * January 5
 * 2000 (AU): Super Smash Bros. (N64)
 * 2012 (AU): Fortune Street (Wii)


 * January 6
 * 1998 (JP): Dr. Mario (SNES)


 * January 7
 * 2005 (EU): Classic NES Series: Dr. Mario (GBA)


 * January 9
 * 1986 (EU): Pinball (NES)


 * January 11
 * 2019
 * (NA): Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey (3DS)
 * (ALL): New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe (Switch)


 * January 12
 * 2007 (EU): WarioWare: Smooth Moves (Wii)


 * January 13
 * 2005 (JP): Mario Party Advance (GBA)


 * January 15
 * 2007 (NA): WarioWare: Smooth Moves (Wii)
 * 2009 (JP): New Play Control! Mario Power Tennis (Wii)
 * 2014 (JP/EU/AU): Dr. Luigi (Wii U eShop)


 * January 16
 * 1995 (JP): Undake30 Same Game (SNES)
 * 2001 (NA): Mario Tennis (GBC)


 * January 17
 * 2008 (JP): Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (DS)
 * 2014 (EU): Mario Party: Island Tour (3DS)


 * January 18
 * 2007
 * (JP): Wario: Master of Disguise (DS)
 * (AU): Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis (DS)
 * 2014 (AU): Mario Party: Island Tour (3DS)
 * 2018 (JP): Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle (NS)


 * January 19
 * 2006 (JP): Super Mario Strikers (GC)
 * 2017 (JP): Poochy & Yoshi's Woolly World (3DS)


 * January 21
 * 1993 (EU): Super Mario Kart (SNES)
 * 1994 (JP): Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3 (GB)
 * 1999 (JP): Super Smash Bros. (N64)
 * 2001 (JP): Donkey Kong Country (GBC)


 * January 22
 * 2008 (NA): Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (DS)
 * 2016 (NA): Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam (3DS)


 * January 23
 * 2020 (JP): Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 - Arcade Edition (Arcade)


 * January 24
 * 2000 (NA): Mario Party 2 (N64)


 * January 25
 * 2007 (AU): WarioWare: Smooth Moves (Wii)
 * 2008 (EU): Donkey Kong Barrel Blast (Wii)
 * 2009 (EU): Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey (3DS)


 * January 26
 * 2019 (AU): Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr.'s Journey (3DS)


 * January 27
 * 2005 (JP): Yoshi Touch & Go (DS)
 * 2006 (EU): Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time (DS)
 * 2011 (AU): Mario Sports Mix (Wii)


 * January 28
 * 1993 (EU): Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins (GB)
 * 2000 (JP): Donkey Kong GB: Dinky Kong & Dixie Kong (GBC)
 * 2011 (EU): Mario Sports Mix (Wii)
 * 2016 (JP):
 * Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash (Wii U)
 * Mini Mario & Friends: amiibo Challenge (Wii U eShop)
 * Mini Mario & Friends: amiibo Challenge (3DS eShop)


 * January 29
 * 1981 (JP/NA): Manhole (G&W)


 * January 31
 * 2008 (JP): Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Wii)

And that’s… it? Wow, not a great month! I suppose that all of the big releases are scheduled for the holiday months to increase sales, so that explains the lack of large games this month. At least we got Brawl! Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this section this month. See you next month :D

What's in a Campaign?
By:

Welcome, 'Shroom readers, to another edition of What's in a Campaign?, your premier source for Robot Wars campaigns! It's a new year and we're finally out of Series 3, so, to celebrate it, we're going to be doing something a little different this month. Instead of looking at a main series campaign, we are instead going to be looking at the Extreme 1 Tag Team Terror run of Diotoir and Mega Morgue.

The Tag Team Terror was originally intended to debut in Series 3 before an unfortunate incident in the pits where an unknown robot, potentially a reserve robot named Roadkill (but not More Panda Monium, as is commonly reported), was dropped, causing its spike weapon to discharge, injuring a crew member's leg, and causing a number of filming delays and cancellations. Instead, Tag Team Terror made its debut as a special episode after Series 4. As its name suggests, Tag Team Terror is the Robot Wars equivalent of Tag Team wrestling, where two robots team up and face another team of two robots. The rules themselves are fairly simple. One robot starts the match and, if it needs to tag out, it can tag its partner in the corner patrol zone (but as we'll see that particular rule is commonly ignored). Another quirk is that, for judges' decision purposes, a team is only eliminated if both robots are knocked out, so if only one teammate is knocked out, then it's still possible for the remaining team to win the judges' decision. Although, obviously, it's unlikely that they will.

Taking place during Robot Wars Extreme 1, which was a series that was filmed alongside Series 5 and was made up of several side tournaments, this Series' Tag Team Terror is double the size of Series 4 Tag Team Terror, now consisting of eight teams instead of the four that Series 4 had. Of the eight teams, four of the teams consist of a former or current Semi-Finalist and another robot (although one of those teams is really stretching that, with the Semi-Finalist chosen being Napalm). Two of the teams consist of robots that have at least made the heat finals (including our chosen team). One of the teams consists of a heat finalist and legendary great bot Sumpthing! And, finally, one team consists of two robots that had made the Series Semi-Finals, that being reigning champion 101 and King B.

First up to be covered, hailing from Ireland is Diotoir of team Nemesis. Successor to the team's original Series 1 and 2 robot Nemesis (shocker), Diotoir is probably the most famous of the Robot Wars "joke" bots. Sporting its trademark goofy grin and polka dot fur that was just made to catch fire, Diotoir was a surprisingly competent machine, making the Heat Final in Series 3 and 5 as well as making the quarter finals in Series 3 World Championship and finishing runner-up in Series 3's terrible International League Championship. Diotoir was built by three friends: Peter Reymond, Joe Gavin, and Ciarán Byrne (more commonly known as Dr. Zulu). The team brought a lot of character to the robot and were always good for a laugh. During Extreme 1, Diotoir also had a 4th team member, Robot Wars host Craig Charles' own son Jack Charles, whose main role with the team was standing there silently never being acknowledged (I love this team). Despite their goofy fur-clad demeanor, the team were really known behind the scenes as brilliant engineers who were always willing to help a roboter in need. One of the common things you hear about this team is that any time you see another robot wearing their trademark fur, that means that the team helped repair it. It was these qualities that let the team become one of the most well remembered teams in all of Robot Wars and allowed them to win Sportsmanship awards in Series 1,3, and 4.



As for the robot itself, Diotoir comes equipped with a lifting shovel that is powered by two large suspension springs. Capable of lifting up a car, the weapon's main weaknesses were the springs,which often broke. It also couldn't be used as a self righter. Despite having a slow top speed of only six miles per hour, Diotoir had pretty decent pushing power, even managing to briefly get the better of Tornado in their Series 5 matchup (a story for another day). Weighing ninety-three kilograms, and thus using quite a bit of the weight limit, the fur of Diotoir also makes it (famously) flammable, although said fire rarely does more than burn off the fur.

On the other side, from Wales, we have Mega Morgue, first appearing in Series 4 where it was known as The Morgue, and where would make the heat final in unusual fashion. Originally losing itss first round matchup, The Morgue would be reinserted in its heat after the robot Scar broke down before its fight with Ming. The Morgue would defeat Ming before being eliminated in the Heat Final in somewhat controversial fashion when it got stuck over the lip of the pit when Firestorm tried to drive it into the pit. The judges ruled that because The Morgue couldn't actually escape the pit either, and because Firestorm was dominating the match anyways, that Firestorm was the victor. Interestingly enough, the team didn't actually enter their Series 5 machine in the Tag Team Terror. In Series 5, the team fought with Mini Morgue and were actually given the 19 seed for… uh, reasons, but a lack of traction doomed them and they fell in the first round.



Mega Morgue was built by Dorian Caudy, Mark Hooper, and some students from the Design and Technology Department of Morriston Comprehensive School. The team was also accompanied by Huw White, an employee of their sponsor, Morganite Electrical Carbons Ltd. Dorian and Mark are lovely characters who make the show better with each appearance. Quite often breaking into song, the team was also well known for their mascot, the inflatable ninja sheep which, as the name suggests, were inflatable sheep that they often attached to their robot. Speaking of the robot, Mega Morgue was a cylinder-shaped robot featuring a roll-over design (i.e., when flipped over it would roll back onto its wheels). Its weapon was a pneumatic flipper with spikes sticking out for grip purposes. To be honest, the flipper wasn't very good and rarely did more than lift up its opponent. Taking almost full advantage of the weight limit, weighing in at ninety-nine kilograms, Mega Morgue had a top speed of only ten miles per hour, but it rarely felt like it would get up to that speed. Perhaps most intimidatingly of all, on its flipper lid sat a picture of Weakest Link host Anne Robertson, which the team were hoping would be destroyed because she said some nasty thing about the Welsh. Overall, this is not a great robot and this is definitely one where the team outshines the robot.

As a reminder, all pictures are sourced from the fantastic Robot Wars Wiki. While there isn't a video of just Diotoir and Mega Mourge's fights, there is a video of the entire Tag Team Terror tournament itself. As always, I'll have time stamps with the videos. While I'm not going to time stamp them, I highly recommend you guys watch any interviews in the video from the Diotoir and Mega Morgue teams because they're honestly great.

In the first round of the Tag Team Terror (and, in fact, the first match of the Tag Team Terror) Diotoir and Mega Morgue were pitted against reigning champions 101 and King B Powerworks. There was an expectation that this would be an easy victory for the champs, with pit reporter Julia Reed even saying they "didn't have a hope in hell" of winning. The fight (3:14) starts out with Mega Morgue and 101, who immediately get into a pushing match which Mega Morgue wins by lifting 101 up into the air, causing 101 to tag in King B with Mega Morgue doing the same and tagging in Diotoir.



King B dominates Diotoir, with King B using its superior speed to dart around Diotoir before getting its forks into Diotoir and slamming it into the walls. It looks like Mega Morgue tags Diotoir, but, despite that, Diotoir continues to fight King B, managing to get a brief lift in with its shovel after King B switches to trying to attack Diotoir with its rear spinning disc. King B continues to rip away at the fur of Diotoir and slam into it (while SGT. Bash lights Diotoir on fire because… why not?). Finally, Diotoir makes the hot tag to Mega Morgue. It appears that, at the same time, King B tagged in 101 off-screen, but that doesn't matter because, like all good tag team matches, this one breaks down into a four-way clash, with King B slamming Mega Morgue into the wall while 101 hits Diotoir with its pneumatic spike.



But then it happens. Diotoir pins King B to the wall and, while King B escapes, it suddenly just goes berserk and starts spinning wildly, slamming itself into the wall before being reduced to only spinning in circles. At the same time, Mega Morgue backs into 101, who is then flipped by Diotoir, and, suddenly, one of 101's tracks lock up, leaving it also only spinning in circles. The fight goes to the judges, with the champions suddenly on the back foot, and then, in something of an upset, the judges rule in favor of Diotoir and Mega Morgue, sending them through to the next round. In the post-match interview, the Mega Morgue team declares that they should be declared champions and the Diotoir team tells King B and 101 that "they are the weakest link. Goodbye!"

In the Semi-Finals of the tournament, Ditoir and Mega Morgue were scheduled to face off against the flipper Spawn Again and the lifter/axe of Comengetorix. Honestly, if you told me you had scoured the entire field of robots to find a team that would break down as randomly as possible, I don't think you could do better than Spawn Again and Comengetorix. But before the match, there's trouble in the pits. You see, the Mega Morgue team brought three speed controllers and in each match they ended up burning one of them out. Because all their speed controllers burned out, they had to pull out of the Tag Team Terror (as well as several other events) and Diotoir needed a new partner. Who was that partner, you ask? Why, it was Series 4 runner-up, Pussycat! Let me tell you, I marked out hard for this as a kid even though now it kind of seems like a weirdly unbalanced pick.

Obviously, Pussycat starts out the fight (42:40) against Spawn Again, and very quickly we see that the blade of Pussycat isn't spinning. I've heard before that Pussycat intentionally didn't run their blade because they were a last minute replacement, but during the post-match interview, the team mentions they might have been having radio issues, so I'm not sure. The fight starts off tentatively, with Pussycat attacking with its static blade. Spawn Again attempts to flip Pussycat twice but neither flips really do much because of Pussycat's pyramid design and the fact that Spawn Again's flipper looks like it might be having some problems. Spawn Again manages to push Pussycat into the CPZ, where Matilda attacks Pussycat with her tusks. Pussycat manages to escape and hit the pit release button. While this happens off-screen, Spawn Again apparently tagged in Comengetorix, who breaks down by driving forward, apparently. I'm not making this up; the first time you see Comengetorix in the fight, it has already broken down despite nobody touching it.



Pussycat comes kind of close to pitting itself before tagging in Diotoir. With Comengetorix broken down, Spawn Again rejoins the battle and we get a grudge match from the Series 5 Heat G Heat Final. Attacking Diotoir from behind while Diotoir is pushing around Comengetorix, Spawn Again might have flipped over Diotoir, but Pussycat rushes to the save, slamming into Diotoir and changing the angle of attack for Spawn Again. This prevents Spawn Again from flipping over Diotoir. The battle breaks down into a "four-way" and, suddenly, Comengetorix comes back to life and gets an attack on Pussycat before driving away from an attacking Diotoir. But… As if Comengetorix took a partner stock in Smash Bros., Spawn Again breaks down immediately after Comengetorix comes to life and is counted out and pitted. Nothing really happens after this, except Diotoir gets set on fire somehow and Comengetorix nearly manages to drive into the pit with less than 10 seconds left in the match. Narrowly avoiding the pit, Comengetorix then manages to get flipped by Diotoir before self-righting itself into the pit just after the match's end is called.



I think the fight went to the judges, but if it did, it wasn't close, and Diotoir and Pussycat would go to the finals.

In the finals, it's Diotoir (with an inflatable sheep on their shovel to represent Mega Morgue) and Pussycat versus the crusher Suicidal Tendancies and the axe of The Steel Avenger for the championship. Once again, Pussycat starts off the fight (48:46), this time facing off against the crusher of Suicidal Tendencies. You would think that because Pussycat has twice dominated Razer, the greatest crusher in Robot Wars history, that it would have no problem against Suicidal Tendencies, right? You would be wrong. Suicidal spends the whole fight bodying Pussycat. It immediately digs its crusher into the shell of Pussycat and sends Pussycat running. Now, there is some context to this, because Pussycat was heavily damaged in other fights (as seen by the fact that it looks like it's wearing bandages), but, still, you'd think it would have a better showing. While darting away, Pussycat does manage to land a few blows with its now-spinning blade, but it spends most of the fight either running away from Suicidal Tendencies or being grabbed by its crusher.



With Suicidal Tendencies getting a grip onto Pussycat as it's stuck on the wall, damn it, Diotoir has finally had enough and leaves its corner to help its partner, which also causes The Steel Avenger to come out of its corner. From here, it really becomes two different matches with Diotoir taking on the Steel Avenger and Pussycat fighting Suicidal Tendencies. Diotoir completely dominated The Steel Avenger, flipping them over immediately and reflipping them every time they even tried to do anything.



While Suicidal Tendencies spends its time hitting and driving around Pussycat, there is a brief moment where Pussycat manages to break away from Suicidal Tendencies and land an attack on The Steel Avenger. Nobody ends up getting broken down and the fight goes to the judges.

It's a very close fight because Suicidal Tendencies dominates Pussycat and the Diotoir dominates The Steel Avengers, but in the end the judges rule in favor of Diotoir and Pussycat, crowning them Extreme 1 Tag Team Terror Champions. This is a pretty contentious decision, but, honestly, I think it's the correct one. In my view, Diotoir dominates The Steel Avenger so thoroughly that The Steel Avenger never does anything in the fight. Whereas, while Suicidal Tendencies does dominate Pussycat, Pussycat still manages to land a few minor attacks on both Suicidal Tendencies and The Steel Avenger. You couple that with that fact that a lot of the damage points Suicidal Tendencies would be scoring would be muted by the fact that most of that damage was really done to Pussycat in earlier fights, and I think they made the right call.

The team of Pussycat and Diotoir is such a weird team, because you'd think it would be Pussycat dominating its opponents and Diotoir just cracking jokes, but that's not what it is at all. Instead, Diotoir does almost all of the work and really secures the title for the team in the finals. It's so weird, because, on paper Diotior and Pussycat, is a far superior team to Diotoir and Mega Morgue but I'm honestly not sure if the results would have changed if Mega Morgue hadn't had to pull out. Spawn Again and Commengetrix still would have broken down in round 2, then, in the finals, Diotoir would have still dominated The Steel Avenger and it's not like Pussycat did all that much anyways. My biggest thing for this hypothetical final is that I'm not sure if Mega Morgue would have been able to stand up to the damage caused by Suicidal Tendencies as well as Pussycat did. So i'd have to rate the team of Suicidal Tendencies and The Steel Avenger as the favorites in the hypothetical final vs Diotoir and Mega Morgue. Still, for a team that was created solely for fun interviews and to make sure the reigning champs made it through the second round, finishing as a presumable runner-up wouldn't have been a bad result at all.

Interestingly enough, none of these three robots would return for Series 6, with the Diotor team deciding to skip it due to being burnt out and wanting a break from having to travel from Ireland to compete in the show. The Mega Morgue team would simply fail to qualify for Series 6, and finally, and unfortunately tragically, Team Cold Fusion (Pussycat) would decide not to enter Series 6 after the tragic death of driver David Gribble who was killed in a motorcycle accident between Series 5 and 6. All three robots would return in the Robot Wars Extreme 2 Tag Team Terror, with Mega Mourge teaming up with X-Terminator and making the Semi-Finals. Diotoir and Pussycat joined up again and continued the grand tradition of Tag Team Terror Champions being defeated in the first round of the next tournament, with Pussycat being thrown out of the arena by Bulldog Breed and Diotoir being flipped over with no way to self right.

That's all for this month. Join us next time when we cover a robot that's near and dear to my heart but nobody else's!

Forum Update
Written by:

Hello, readers of The 'Shroom! As it turns out, we don't pack up the forum, archive it, and start anew every year, so I suppose I still have a job here! Well, I'll continue to have a job here as long as you all continue to use the forum and give me news to report on, at least!

News
There's little news from the forum in terms of significant structural changes, but we have seen a few forum threads wrap up or come back which are worth touching on briefly. First and foremost, 2021's Secret Satan event has wrapped up. It ultimately wrapped up without any grinches (that is to say, nobody failed to deliver a gift, in the end), but we'll come back to this thread to look at it in depth a bit more.

We are once again asking you (for the fourth year in a row, courtesy of Snack), to eat ramen in the new year.

Sadly, all good things must come to an end, and the "Daily" VGM Thread, one of my favorite threads on the forum, has closed up shop. Don't despair, however, as Shy Guy on Wheels has indicated he will continue to post music, just in other threads or on other venues. Thank you for all the music, Shy Guy on Wheels!

Where one thread ended during the past month, another came back to life. After going silent after the second of April in 2019, the thread in which MrConcreteDonkey rates drawings of Garfield made by other users and offers commentary on those drawings was updated on the seventh of January. MrConcreteDonkey finished rating all of the Garfields in the thread, and has since rated a few others made after the thread's revival.

Bans
After considering the structure of this section, I have decided that the "bans" section will be retired in 2022. It seems counterproductive to highlight bad behavior and to potentially embarrass banned users who return and make an earnest effort to improve by keeping a public record of their ban here, so, outside of exceptional circumstances, I'll leave it to the already-public ban log on the forum to record bans. Thank you all for understanding! Expect this section to be replaced, in February, with a section highlighting cool trivia about the forum's history and threads and events older than five years!

Statistics

 * Total Threads: 40,764 (Difference: +118)
 * Total Posts: 2,227,544 (Difference: +3,669)
 * Total Members: 3,340 (Difference: +16)

Thread of the Month
MARIOBOARDS INVESTIGATIONS: THE ALPS GAME (REAL) (FINISHED) - Roserade's Secret Satan gift to GBA, a man who has organized and ran a number of forum games and events (including the award-winning Awards Killing Game 4: Despair Incorporated and the Scribble-Tournament), the "Alps Game," as it is often referred to for convenience, quickly became one of the funniest events on the forum this year. Originally, GBA (roleplaying as Nobu) investigated alone, but he soon invited Superchao to join the investigation. The following day of investigation, Snack (roelplaying as Nadie) and Hooded Pitohui (roleplaying as Viola Cadaverini) were also invited (and, to complete the Lightning Mafia+ reunion, Renne was reintroduced by Superchao). Roserade served as the host throughout the whole event, and rounded out the cast of characters with NPCs including: Italian Lady, the deceased Delay G. BA Delaymos, the Tesco-owning Mr. White, the potassium-filled Mr. Man, Nobulmao, and the sharply-dressed Egdels Sedahs. Franziska von Karma also showed up, courtesy of Snack. While it may have only ran over the course of three days, its four pages of content brought plenty to cover. As a matter of fact, there's enough to cover here that I'm giving it its own quotes section!

Quotes from the Alps

 * "You set about investigating the existence of a weird fairy girl with a spoon, I think. I only read the article for five seconds before saying "of course it's a Touhou." Anyway, there's no Touhou, you weeb." - Roserade, the mysterious guiding force who must, shamefully, occasionally remind us that not all is Touhou
 * "Guns?! No, please, not that!! I'm too intimidated by biceps!" - Mr. White, demonstrating he has absolutely no sense of style or taste.
 * "Some of that summoning energy might have rebounded and hit Perch and catalysed his spirit. He's even regressed to the point of murderhobo-killing the italian lady while I wasn't looking, just like he does!! No matter! Chaos reigns!" - Nobu, observing the usual Perch approach
 * "Is there a drinking age for battery acid in Italy." - Nadie, sharing a drink of battery acid with Renne, who in this continuity is 19 years old.
 * "Your hunt for any leads is entirely uneventful, except for when you finally search her pants pockets. In her right pocket, you discover mounds and mounds of spaghetti. In fact, it's the only thing on her person, just spaghetti. I hope the Italian Lady made lotsa spaghetti." - An investigation of the Italian Lady proves enlightening (fake)
 * "You investigate the Chicken Run Room. The entire place, head-to-toe, is decorated with Chicken Run merchandise. There's DVD sets, plushes, toys, and even a replica of the chicken-food-making-machine thing from the movie! This hotel really is deluxe! The entire floor is littered with Chicken Run memorabilia, making it impossible to currently see beneath your feet." - The most horrifying thing in the hotel, which later turns out to be incredibly blast-resistant, is discovered.
 * "You attempt to take his peel. At the first instance, he screams in agony as you forcefully rip his own skin away from his innards. You continue your mission, though, and after many agonizing minutes of abhorrent yelling and begs for mercy, you manage to leave Mr. Man naked." - Words preceding images that fill you with a sense of regret (it may be worth noting that Mr. Man is a bananna)
 * "Nadie keeps careful track of the two cups of tea as she enters into the Chicken Run Room, offering Viola the other cup as she returns. Nobu ducks inside, as does Franziska. Among the mess of Chicken Run memorabilia, a certain bond is built between all five girlbosses. There's something oddly beautiful about it all." - Finally, a happy ending

Threads of the Year
Decemberance (Secret Satan 2021) - I'm giving the distinction of "thread of the year" to this year's Secret Satan event. Overseen by Edofenrir, this year's event brought with it some spectacular gifts, ranging from artwork, such as the art of a reptilian Toadbert which Edofenrir made for Toadbert and the art of Luigi 64DD which Long John Spaghetti made; stories, such as the story Superchao made for MrConcreteDonkey; forum games, such as Roserade's Alps Game; hacks and mods, such as GBA's "Perchcraft" texture pack for Minecraft that was made for Superchao; poems, such as Toadgamer's Christmas poem to Hooded Pitohui; videos, such as The Pyro Guy's video for Power Flotzo, and many other gifts. In the end, everybody who signed up to participate made a gift, and the creativity and personal touches on display represent the best qualities of our community.

A special shout-out goes to Turboo, who adapted Snack's writing for Feenik Musume into a working visual novel format, allowing people to actually play and experience the "East Sea GF" (who you may also know as Nadie) chapter of the hypothetical Feenik Musume visual novel. This gift is one at the end of a thread connecting back through many community events this year, ranging from Lighting Mafia+ to Minecraft Games 2021 (and the incredible amount of work that was put into the Isle of Feenik, unveiled during that event) to the 2021 Awards season more generally, and which was indirectly shaped by many hands in the community over the course of 2021. When a gift goes back and connects to so many events and so many people, it makes me think, at least, that the event it's in deserves some recognition!

Mario Awards Scribble Deathmatch - I would also like to give a special nod to one other thread which I think can easily be called a "thread of the year", that being the Scribble Deathmatch thread. Arguably the biggest event of this Awards season, this tournament, hosted by GBA, brought together over thirty community members and gave them a chance to show their creative and artistic skill. Looking at everything that was produced, week after week, it shows just how much passion and talent there is in this community. This whole tournament deserves recognition for showing how vibrant, active, creative, and supportive this community is!

Quotes

 * "This was a lovely surprise. Thank you. I was shocked upon seeing a blue Garfield and nearly typed "how to perform CPR on a cartoon cat" into Google in a blind panic; but upon inverting the colours I began to feel that familiarity and warmth coming back. 8/10" - MrConcreteDonkey, reviewing SiFi's blue Garfield
 * "S-sorry but it was the most likely possibility besides Luigi killing Toad in self defense, and I know for a fact anyone will agree with you if it means harm towards Sticker Star..." - Flygon64, starting off his Ace Attorney style interactive thread, Plumber Turnabout
 * "And that's finally it for this drawing! Sorry if I geeked out a bit hard there, but I love RiR and all the rps from it and I love Double Dash, and being able to represent the main elements of both RiR and MK:DD in such a cohesive way that works so well together was just awesome." - Luigi 64DD, commenting on a small part of a large post (and one worth a read) covering his art for the back six months of 2021
 * "It's been almost three years since you joined and it's been three years since you last used LongJohnSpaghetti as your username but at long last, it's back" - Mattz Lunne, on LJS' name change
 * "As of this minute it's been exactly a year since I submitted my first 'Shroom application, which begs the question, why was I writing the first Smackdown on Christmas Eve?" - Waluigi Time, reflecting on where he was a year ago

Mafia

 * There have been no ongoing or completed mafia games in the past month. No other forum games have taken place in the past month, either.
 * InsaneBlathers opened sign-ups for Mafiatroid, a Metroid-themed mafia game, but has since opted to delay the game, but sign-ups remain open. Interested parties are advised to wait for further updates.

Interactive 'Shroom Threads

 * Voting will once again be open this month for Strategy Wing's Mach Speed Mayhem, written by Superchao, so go vote!
 * Nominations are once again open for Waluigi Time's Mushroom Kingdom Smackdown. A new system where Waluigi Time offers a few nominess which you can vote for with reactions will remain in place, but you can continue to offer up your own nominations, as always!
 * You can also vote in Northern Verve's merit ranking to determine the order he'll cover Super Smash Bros. Ultimate's fighters, determining which fighters get covered in his 'Shroom section!
 * Flygon64 is looking for suggestions on what villains that Vid should interview next in The Big Cheeses of the Mushroom Kingdom.

We didn't end 2021 too badly, did we? I suspect there will be plenty of news, events, and games to cover in this section as we get further into 2022, so be sure to come right here in Pipe Plaza to keep up with it all every month!

All information above was correct as of 12:13 EST on 12 January 2022.