Captain Syrup > Waluigi - Full Analytical Article

ChanceTime

ChanceTime

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I made an article on our blog concerning what we feel to be Captain Syrup's rightful place in the main Mario cast.

http://wl-treasure-trove.tumblr.com/post/119399450587/captain-syrup-waluigi

There's a case made with points backed up with as much evidence as possible. Hopefully this might give a new look on it, but we'll be happy to answer any questions presented to us and expand the article wherever necessary if new information is provided. We really hope it's an enjoyable read.

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Yeah but I still think that Captain Syrup is like Bowser from the Wario Land series. They created Waluigi a character who understands Wario and looks like him. But god-dang I would like to see Captain Syrup in the Mario spin-offs, we got the chance to play as King K. Rool in baseball.
 
Yikes Spike said:
Yeah but I still think that Captain Syrup is like Bowser from the Wario Land series. They created Waluigi a character who understands Wario and looks like him. But god-dang I would like to see Captain Syrup in the Mario spin-offs, we got the chance to play as King K. Rool in baseball.
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Thanks for your query, I answered it just here:
http://wl-treasure-trove.tumblr.com/post/119428003202/captain-syrup-is-like-bowser-in-the-wario-land

To quote it here, though:

Why would Wario want or need someone who understands him, though? His games demonstrate that he’s somebody who’s concerned primarily with himself and that he hold his own.

And the thing is, Syrup being his enemy and yet still partnering with him makes them a dynamic and unique pair, considering there’s not really another such team who are at odds with one-another. The closest that it comes to, as we’ve said, is Yoshi partnering with Birdo, and this isn’t really explored with any clash.

Characters who conflict with eachother needing to share a truce is a great means of setting up interesting circumstances for them both. In the case of Wario and Syrup, with them both being villains it’s easy to imagine them attempting to take credit for victories and blaming the other for failures, or trying to stab the other in the back by ditching them as soon as doubling up was no longer necessary. A resentful relationship makes for conflict, and can therefore be used for comedic purposes in various animations throughout the games, promotional material and other such things.

Once again, Syrup can fulfil this role because she’s conflicted with Wario in the past in two seperate games before Tennis was released, and once again the mixed-bag relationship is shown through Wario’s actions in rescuing Syrup, but then shoving her away in order to get his treasure back. Waluigi can’t boast a friendship nor this sort of jaded truce, because before Tennis he did not exist.
 
Great analysis. They have a really unique relationship being partners that don't like one another but will work together for their own needs and maybe along the journey gradually grow to like each other, just a little bit. Pretty generic as a plot device but there isn't really any nintendo games that have this relationship. If they were both playable in a 2D wario then I'd say they should be able to hit each other like in the modern 2D Rayman game and make it so it's clear that they aren't friends though the gameplay and animations.
 
AwesomeCauliflower68 said:
Great analysis. They have a really unique relationship being partners that don't like one another but will work together for their own needs and maybe along the journey gradually grow to like each other, just a little bit. Pretty generic as a plot device but there isn't really any nintendo games that have this relationship. If they were both playable in a 2D wario then I'd say they should be able to hit each other like in the modern 2D Rayman game and make it so it's clear that they aren't friends though the gameplay and animations.
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Yeah, man! I can imagine it being a case where it'd expand a little on the transformation system, the two of them being in play and using the other in some humourous practical way. For instance, Wario could pick Syrup up and use her as a bargpole, ala the dashing headbutt in WL4, or Syrup could carry Wario over her head to protect herself from falling hailstones. I like your way of thinking honestly, and thank you very much. C:
 
Glowsquid said:
fun fax about Waluigi's origins: camelot wanted to create a "wapeach" as wario's partner for Mario Tennis but miyamoto didn't like the idea, so they made waluigi instead.

they already had the perfect wapeach.
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They really did... Hell, Syrup even nicked her statue, so they have a reason to lock horns.
 
ChanceTime said:
They really did... Hell, Syrup even nicked her statue, so they have a reason to lock horns.
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Captain Syrup as Princess Peach self-proclaimed rival? That could work!

Mario & Luigi vs. Wario & Waluigi
Peach & Daisy vs. Syrup & The shake dimmension princess?
Rosalina vs. Shokora
Yoshi vs. Boshi
Bowser vs. Rudy

Y'know instead of replacing characters, why not just get along?
 
Yikes Spike said:
Captain Syrup as Princess Peach self-proclaimed rival? That could work!

Mario & Luigi vs. Wario & Waluigi
Peach & Daisy vs. Syrup & The shake dimmension princess?
Rosalina vs. Shokora
Yoshi vs. Boshi
Bowser vs. Rudy

Y'know instead of replacing characters, why not just get along?
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I would like to agree on that, but more is not always better :c having a cast chosen wisely is really important to a game and an aspect many people seem to ignore. Didn't anyone else feel Mario Kart 8 would have been nearly perfect if it wasn't for the fact 1/3 of the roster were babies and powerup clones, for example? it might seem like at least the other 2/3 is good and the rest could be ignored, but in reality stupid choices like that lessen the impact of the more important characters: it's like saying Mario and Baby Rosalina are equally important. (For another example, compare how good it felt to get the 'Superstar' title in the first few Mario Parties and how ridiculous it was when 8 came around and a mook like Blooper could achieve it).

The thing with Waluigi and Syrup here is that there was a character needed to fulfill a particular role, and instead of giving it to a character that suited all the needs they decided to put filler that doesn't add anything to the cast. Syrup worked as a partner to Wario, a contrast to Peach and Daisy and an interesting addition to the villians' side. If you see what Syrup's canonical interactions with Wario are, you can see she can easily replace Waluigi in everything he does with Wario in the sports games' cutscenes and the like. Hell, her colour palette was even changed to something that feels like a spit on the face considering how much it resembles Waluigi's, and she would even suit being the Technique specialized character as well. Adding her along with him could only mean two things: either having two characters with the exact same role, or making Syrup an irrelevant addition that doesn't bother the status quo everyone is so used to, ruining her inclusion completely either way.

That's why I think both can't coexist, at least. There is no character that resembles Syrup, except for a clone that now takes up her spot and that would easily make people think she'd be the ''female Waluigi'' if she were to be added now. Put it this way: if Syrup was there from the start, people would laugh their ass off at the idea of making an evil Luigi clone to replace her.
 
Melluh said:
I would like to agree on that, but more is not always better :c having a cast chosen wisely is really important to a game and an aspect many people seem to ignore. Didn't anyone else feel Mario Kart 8 would have been nearly perfect if it wasn't for the fact 1/3 of the roster were babies and powerup clones, for example? it might seem like at least the other 2/3 is good and the rest could be ignored, but in reality stupid choices like that lessen the impact of the more important characters: it's like saying Mario and Baby Rosalina are equally important. (For another example, compare how good it felt to get the 'Superstar' title in the first few Mario Parties and how ridiculous it was when 8 came around and a mook like Blooper could achieve it).

The thing with Waluigi and Syrup here is that there was a character needed to fulfill a particular role, and instead of giving it to a character that suited all the needs they decided to put filler that doesn't add anything to the cast. Syrup worked as a partner to Wario, a contrast to Peach and Daisy and an interesting addition to the villians' side. If you see what Syrup's canonical interactions with Wario are, you can see she can easily replace Waluigi in everything he does with Wario in the sports games' cutscenes and the like. Hell, her colour palette was even changed to something that feels like a spit on the face considering how much it resembles Waluigi's, and she would even suit being the Technique specialized character as well. Adding her along with him could only mean two things: either having two characters with the exact same role, or making Syrup an irrelevant addition that doesn't bother the status quo everyone is so used to, ruining her inclusion completely either way.

That's why I think both can't coexist, at least. There is no character that resembles Syrup, except for a clone that now takes up her spot and that would easily make people think she'd be the ''female Waluigi'' if she were to be added now. Put it this way: if Syrup was there from the start, people would laugh their ass off at the idea of making an evil Luigi clone to replace her.
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Yeah but, Bowser sometimes partner up with Mario, meaning that both have a mixed relationship too.
And what upsets people about Mario Kart 8 is the character design, we got 3 extra Marios & 3 extra Peaches (and they pretty much are the same people with fancy palettes swaps) Unlike Waluigi who looks like a tall Wario, he developed a different personality in comparison to other plumbers, he's a selfish guy who wants to be recognized, is the guy who appears nonethless, like or not he's always there just to mess around, so ragged and yet perfect. Captain Syrup is basically the anwser to Bowser, I could even see Wario & Waluigi fighting against her.

Both could co-exists, but Nintendo's main team seems to ignore that.
 
Yikes Spike said:
Yeah but, Bowser sometimes partner up with Mario, meaning that both have a mixed relationship too.
And what upsets people about Mario Kart 8 is the character design, we got 3 extra Marios & 3 extra Peaches (and they pretty much are the same people with fancy palettes swaps) Unlike Waluigi who looks like a tall Wario, he developed a different personality in comparison to other plumbers, he's a selfish guy who wants to be recognized, is the guy who appears nonethless, like or not he's always there just to mess around, so ragged and yet perfect. Captain Syrup is basically the anwser to Bowser, I could even see Wario & Waluigi fighting against her.

Both could co-exists, but Nintendo's main team seems to ignore that.
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Except everything about Bowser screams he was designed to be a final boss, whereas Syrup's had 1/3 appearances being just that. In WL2 she became recurring and even had Wario rescue her, and Shake It! had her helping Wario herself by selling the maps that grant him access to the next levels and you never even fight her. If anything her relationship with Wario has become even MORE complex with every game she's in, showing she's way more than the baddie from the Wario Land games, and putting her as such would disregard her role in the actual games completely, even moreso considering she wasn't even designed to be intimidating like Bowser is. She wouldn't work if she were to be given that role.

I find it amazing how people seem to find every possible excuse to defend Waluigi claiming Syrup's role couldn't have worked.
She was a baddie! So was Birdo.
She's from a spin off! So is Diddy Kong.
She had only 2 appearances! Daisy had one by the time Tennis came out.

Like the idea of making an excuse character all together was much better than making an excuse (that wasn't even needed) for a character that already had a lot going on for her. The main excuse to like him seems to be his characterization, thing that Syrup could have aced perfectly without being limited to being filler that won't ever have any other use than being there as 'Wario2: bad Luigi'.

Not to mention, dysfunctional Wario Syrup tag teams sounds infinitely more interesting than yet another copy of the Mario Bros formula replacing the plumbers for anti versions of them.
 
Melluh said:
Except everything about Bowser screams he was designed to be a final boss, whereas Syrup's had 1/3 appearances being just that. In WL2 she became recurring and even had Wario rescue her, and Shake It! had her helping Wario herself by selling the maps that grant him access to the next levels and you never even fight her. If anything her relationship with Wario has become even MORE complex with every game she's in, showing she's way more than the baddie from the Wario Land games, and putting her as such would disregard her role in the actual games completely, even moreso considering she wasn't even designed to be intimidating like Bowser is. She wouldn't work if she were to be given that role.

I find it amazing how people seem to find every possible excuse to defend Waluigi claiming Syrup's role couldn't have worked.
She was a baddie! So was Birdo.
She's from a spin off! So is Diddy Kong.
She had only 2 appearances! Daisy had one by the time Tennis came out.

Like the idea of making an excuse character all together was much better than making an excuse (that wasn't even needed) for a character that already had a lot going on for her. The main excuse to like him seems to be his characterization, thing that Syrup could have aced perfectly without being limited to being filler that won't ever have any other use than being there as 'Wario2: bad Luigi'.

Not to mention, dysfunctional Wario Syrup tag teams sounds infinitely more interesting than yet another copy of the Mario Bros formula replacing the plumbers for anti versions of them.
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They could do more than a copy-paste of Super Mario Bros, look at Punch-Out Wii, they added a new boxer mixing with the veterans, In Donkey Kong Country Returns Tropical Freeze, an unexpected character appeared a along with Dixie Kong. The thing is I would love to see is Waluigi's relation with Captain Syrup, y'know how the sidekick reacts at the antagonist.

And if I bad remember in Wario Land 2, Wario just witnessed the consequences of what would happen to him if he keeps bothering with those creatures by showing how they kidnapped Syrup and sending her to the roof. In Wario Land Shake it, Captain Syrup aided Wario just to get the bottomless sack of golden coins.

To put in other words:

Wario to Captain Syrup: "Grrrr, who the heck she think she is?! Stealing my treasures and kicking me out of my own house?!"

Wario to Waluigi: "Hey, I like this guy, he do what he wants no matter how high the price is!"
 
Yikes Spike said:
They could do more than a copy-paste of Super Mario Bros, look at Punch-Out Wii, they added a new boxer mixing with the veterans, In Donkey Kong Country Returns Tropical Freeze, an unexpected character appeared a along with Dixie Kong. The thing is I would love to see is Waluigi's relation with Captain Syrup, y'know how the sidekick reacts at the antagonist.

And if I bad remember in Wario Land 2, Wario just witnessed the consequences of what would happen to him if he keeps bothering with those creatures by showing how they kidnapped Syrup and sending her to the roof. In Wario Land Shake it, Captain Syrup aided Wario just to get the bottomless sack of golden coins.

To put in other words:

Wario to Captain Syrup: "Grrrr, who the heck she think she is?! Stealing my treasures and kicking me out of my own house?!"

Wario to Waluigi: "Hey, I like this guy, he do what he wants no matter how high the price is!"
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Just to ask, since you've referred to Waluigi's differing personality quite a lot, you seem pretty comfortable with this opinion. Could you please tell me why you find that to be the case? What makes Waluigi different from the other plumber characters, especially Wario? I don't want 'headcanons' either, if you can, show me where his traits are demonstrated enough to provide evidence for your claim.
 
As I've said before the problem with Waluigi is that it's hard to figure out what his personality is. Look at Wario. Wario is the opposite of Mario. Where Mario is brave and kind, Wario is mean and selfish. Now let's look at Luigi and Waluigi. Luigi is known for being a coward, but what does this mean for Waluigi? If Luigi's a coward then does this mean that Waluigi is brave or is Waluigi even more of a coward then Luigi?
 
I think the bottom line here is that Waluigi only exists in relation to other characters, which is something he doesn't even do well and that makes any attempt at characterization feel quite... not-genuine. He's supposed to be Wario's partner, but there is nothing in any game that ever tells us why; it's something we just have to believe when he shows up. Whatever clue we might have about his personality is all made in relation to Wario:
- They're partners, so he's also on the 'bad guys' side.
- Wario is less of a villian than Bowser, so is Waluigi.
- Wario doesn't have much morals and is quite selfish, and so is Waluigi by extention.

I wish I could include his rivality with Luigi, but as much as people like to point it out it's... nonexistant. I mean, we are told from the start he's there to be Luigi's rival, yet the only time he ever opposes Luigi is if you count the way Mario Party 3 plays with him as a boss and Luigi as the protagonist. I will be nice and say this COULD have been a way to make something out of his character, having some sort of motivation that conflicts with Luigi's and using that to develop him independantly (kinda like how Wario started as an anti-Mario but as soon as Wario Land happened he was a completely independant character with a plot and setup of his own), but there's just nothing there and there hasn't been in 15 years now. There doesn't even seem to be a common goal with Wario beyond the games telling us 'no no, he HAS something against the Mushroom Kingdom too, believe us!', he just... tags along for the sake of there being another character. He doesn't have any value on his own, which is why I see him as a terrible filler and a wasted slot.
 
ChanceTime said:
Just to ask, since you've referred to Waluigi's differing personality quite a lot, you seem pretty comfortable with this opinion. Could you please tell me why you find that to be the case? What makes Waluigi different from the other plumber characters, especially Wario? I don't want 'headcanons' either, if you can, show me where his traits are demonstrated enough to provide evidence for your claim.
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Melluh said:
I think the bottom line here is that Waluigi only exists in relation to other characters, which is something he doesn't even do well and that makes any attempt at characterization feel quite... not-genuine. He's supposed to be Wario's partner, but there is nothing in any game that ever tells us why; it's something we just have to believe when he shows up. Whatever clue we might have about his personality is all made in relation to Wario:
- They're partners, so he's also on the 'bad guys' side.
- Wario is less of a villian than Bowser, so is Waluigi.
- Wario doesn't have much morals and is quite selfish, and so is Waluigi by extention.

I wish I could include his rivality with Luigi, but as much as people like to point it out it's... nonexistant. I mean, we are told from the start he's there to be Luigi's rival, yet the only time he ever opposes Luigi is if you count the way Mario Party 3 plays with him as a boss and Luigi as the protagonist. I will be nice and say this COULD have been a way to make something out of his character, having some sort of motivation that conflicts with Luigi's and using that to develop him independantly (kinda like how Wario started as an anti-Mario but as soon as Wario Land happened he was a completely independant character with a plot and setup of his own), but there's just nothing there and there hasn't been in 15 years now. There doesn't even seem to be a common goal with Wario beyond the games telling us 'no no, he HAS something against the Mushroom Kingdom too, believe us!', he just... tags along for the sake of there being another character. He doesn't have any value on his own, which is why I see him as a terrible filler and a wasted slot.
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Well you see, Mario & Luigi are the opposite, they fight themselves because of their differences, the developers created a sidekick for Wario to compete against the Mario bros' relationship by making them to be the pals who found so much in common and staying together no matter how low the situation is.
They're like:

Mario: "C'mon Luigi, just kick the ball already it won't gonna' bite"

Wario: "Always keep a straight face with the competence, and save some tricks in your sleeves becasue mine are short."

And if you're wondering why they didn't come out something special for Waluigi, well that Nintendo's sidekick tradition, remember that Luigi got his official game after 20 years since his debut.
 
Yikes Spike said:
Well you see, Mario & Luigi are the opposite, they fight themselves because of their differences, the developers created a sidekick for Wario to compete against the Mario bros' relationship by making them to be the pals who found so much in common and staying together no matter how low the situation is.
They're like:

Mario: "C'mon Luigi, just kick the ball already it won't gonna' bite"

Wario: "Always keep a straight face with the competence, and save some tricks in your sleeves becasue mine are short."

And if you're wondering why they didn't come out something special for Waluigi, well that Nintendo's sidekick tradition, remember that Luigi got his official game after 20 years since his debut.
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Would you mind citing your sources on this, please?
 
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