Mariology (serious posts wanted)

[NintendoExpert89]

I think that the Prankster Comets in SMG affect the environment by raining special gases, evidenced by the discolored frame when one is in orbit.

Speedy Comets fill the "air" with a slow-acting toxin similar to that in the Hazy Maze Cave. If Mario stays in that gas too long, he will die.
Daredevil Comets spray potential lethal gases, but only strong enough so that even small damages are deadly.
Fast Foe Comets act as a stimulant only on rock enemies.
Cosmic Comets' gas is also potentially lethal. But as a "Prankster," the Cosmic Comet wants to toy with Mario and faces off with Mario before it decides to kill him. Its gas becomes dense and assumes his form, challenging him to a race. Mario needs to quickly escape with the Power Star before Cosmic Mario can claim it and the comet makes the gas completely lethal.
Purple Comets' gas condenses into harmless, magical coin-shaped objects. Getting all the coins (at least 100) creates enough energy to produce a Power Star. The Purple Comet is the most unique because its degree of lethality varies from completely harmless to deadly. When it is deadly, it is as lethal as Speedy's, so one must avoid inhaling it for too long.

[Toad]

Here's something we haven't touched on in a while: What power-ups do the characters eat, and which ones do they just hold?

My wife actually made me think about that, after we both played Brawl and Galaxy. She noticed how Mario holds/uses the Fire Flower in SSB, but then appears to absorb it in SMG. My thought has always been that Mario eats the Mushrooms, and etiher absorbs or holds the Flowers. Obviously, this would bring up the point of which power-ups he holds or absorbs.

I am going to go back through the older games, and see where it would look like he's either eating, holding, or just abosrbing the power.. though, there are some that are obvious: you absorb the flying powers (Leaf/P-wing, Feather), but he probably doesn't eat the Fire Flowers to absorb them.. Hmm..

[CrossEyed7]

I think the Fire Flowers can be used either way. In Paper Mario, Mario just sets the flower on the ground and it shoots fireballs at the enemies. If Mario Galaxy weren't here, it'd be easier to harmonize everything. Mario can either shoot fireballs directly out of the flower, or eat it to absorb the fire power (and possibly shoot the fireballs out of his mouth, the way it sort of looks in his SMB3 sprite and the way it was apparently designed to look for Luigi's sprite in the SMAS version of SMW.). Or you could just say that the clothes are representative of Mario holding the flower, and when he gets hit, it makes him drop the flower (like how powers were represented in SML2 with different hats because of technical limitations). However, the clothes showing up in Galaxy make the representation theory pretty hard to believe, and the time limit is inconsistent with all other games. But maybe only the terrestrial Fire Flowers last that long for some reason.

Mushrooms are definitely eaten, as seen most clearly in the Mario & Luigi games. The leaf is some kind of Tanooki magic that gets absorbed, but the Tanooki suit, like the Frog suit and Hammer suit, seems to just be an actual suit. The weird part is that the more naturalistic tanooki costume is the one that gives more tanooki powers. The P-Wing could just be an actual wing, and the designers just didn't have the time/space to make a separate sprite for it. The only clue for the feather I can find in the SMW manual is in the story at the beginning:

As they began their journey, Yoshi handed Mario a beautiful cape. "This may help you," Yoshi said. "Some say it has magical powers."

With a little luck (and help from a magic cape), our hearty crew can defeat the seven worlds of Bowser's Krazy Koopa Kritters.

So apparently the cape is magic. The fact that Yoshi gives Mario the cape, instead of a feather that turns into a cape, seems to indicate that the feather is representative, but since it's magic, it could just have the ability to change between forms at will.

Incidentally, I consider Smash to be at the same level of canon as the movie -- it's there if you want to pull anything neat out of it and adapt it, but everything else can be ignored.

[Boo Dudley]

Maybe he sticks 'em in his overalls, enabling him to use both hands and concealing the item at the same time. Pockets not being the most secure things for storage, can easily drop said power-ups when Mario's knocked around a little.

Brawl being non-canon, even to the canon-less Mario, I don't think it really matters. But, I guess you could chalk it up to Mario & Luigi having already absorbed/pocketed a Fire Flower, and can't/don't need to stow another one away.

Or he eats them.

[N64 Chick]

Bart: How do they taste, Ralph? Good?
Ralph: They taste like...burning...

That said, you'd think that eating a Fire Flower would give an effect much like the Superspicy Curry. Perhaps that's what Luigi did in the Super Mario All-Stars version of Super Mario World.

[The Chef]

Maybe he sticks 'em in his overalls, enabling him to use both hands and concealing the item at the same time. Pockets not being the most secure things for storage, can easily drop said power-ups when Mario's knocked around a little.

I remember seeing on this forum a few beta screens of SMS showing an icon that looked like a pocket containing a Fire Flower or Mushroom in place of the FLUDD meter. They might've been fake, though.

In M&L, Mario and Luigi got the ability to shoot fire/thunder from the temples, and in PiT, the different Bros. Items provide the power.

Lastly, Mario was shown eating all three power-ups in the obscure Great Mission to Rescue Peach animated film, but he just touches the power-ups in the Super Mario Super Show.

EDIT: Actually, I wonder if the Fire Flower just symbiotically binds itself to Mario's suit, thus giving him the power to shoot fire from his gloves and changing suit's colors. Like a good version of the black Spidey suit.

[Boo Dudley]

Lots of fabrics are made from plant fibers, but I just settle for his regular garb being temporarily dyed from the plant.

Lots of dyes are made from plants.

[The Chef]

How would dye give him fire powers? I say the flower attaches to the suit and transfers it's power to Mario through it.

[Boo Dudley]

I'm not saying the dye itself gives him the powers--it's just a side-effect.

[NintendoExpert89]

In M&L, Mario and Luigi got the ability to shoot fire/thunder from the temples

When I read that I first thought these temples.

[The Chef]

Whoops. I was talking about those temples on the islands where the Oho Jees live.

[Glitchy]

Since it's odd that Mario holds the fire-flowers in the SSB series and he absorbs them everywhere else, I think it's safe to say that Mario holding Fire Flowers are non-canon...but that's just what I think.

[The Chef]

He also has ability to shoot fire balls without the use of the Fire Suit in SSB, so I would assume the Smash games give characters all those abilities they wouldn't have otherwise, while featuring modified versions of the tools they encounter.

[SushieBoy]

Here's something to discuss form SMW, do you guys think that Soda Lake really is soda? The first thing that I think of when I think soda would be coca cola, but if that was the case in Soda Lake, then you couldn't see anything. Maybe it's just carbonated water...

[Turtlekid1]

When I was little, I definitely took it literally, but now, seeing as all the other worlds (up through World 6, anyway) are named after food...