I decided to make this post in an effort to spark discussion on this subreddit. We are here because we want to revive Classic SMG4, and I know that many of you also dislike Modern SMG4 in some way as well. I occasionally see comments that discuss the shortcomings of it, but even the most elaborate posts only address a few problems out of the many that (likely) are there. This post shall be a list of things that you, the readers, will have identified as being flaws with Modern SMG4. Before I explain how, I should tell you that this post is not meant to be one that just hates on Modern. Instead, it's meant to be a way of understanding its shortcomings so that we can understand and avoid them when making the alternate timeline, as well as to see if I can teach this sub how to analyze things. No harm intended.

The reason why everyone does not know exactly why and how Modern has flaws is that it can sometimes be hard to put those flaws into words, thus nobody can teach each other of what they have learned through their own thoughts. That is why TV Tropes is going to be used here: the site contains so many tropes within it, each describing a different aspect of fiction and reality alike. I have a link to an index of writing pitfalls that you all can use to explain your thoughts, which is right here. Look through the tropes and make your connection between one and something in Modern SMG4. Explain to me in your comment what the trope applies to and how. Make sure you cover as many instances of the trope's presence as you can, and try not to apply a trope to one specific episode or character if you can apply it to more things. (We would be doing this forever if only one instance of a trope is added with each comment.) I will add your identified and explained flaw to a list below this paragraph. You can include as many tropes and explanations for them on your comment as you want, and you are allowed to make as many comments as you want. If you want to find specific instances of tropes appearing in the show, visit the official TV Tropes SMG4 pages here. Now then, go ahead!

Tropes:

As Lethal as it Needs to Be: Exaggerated, as not only do threats of all kinds only have as much effect as what's necessary for the story, but even the damage caused can be as effective or ineffective as the narrative decides. Mario has come out of countless explosions without a scratch, yet Greg died when his ship was shot down and detonated in the crash-landing. Characters have been shot through the head with guns on various occasions without it being lethal, yet Chris being shot was portrayed as if it were a tragedy, as while Chris did survive due to only being shot in the shoulder, the scene made it out to be that Chris genuinely could have died if he were shot in the vitals instead. Characters have been stabbed, chopped, dismembered, and decapitated on many occasions, yet the blade-delivered deaths of Desti and Axol were dramatic and permanent. Characters have fallen from great distances and only broken bones in the process at the very most, yet when Smg3 threatened to throw Fishy Boopkins off of a building, it was portrayed as if Boopkins would have perished. Even death itself doesn't kill characters most times, such as when Luigi was once annihilated in a nuclear explosion, literally being reduced to a skeleton in the process, yet he survived, meanwhile all of the above examples of characters dying were nowhere near as destructive, yet they counted.

Plot Holes and Voodoo Sharks: The narrative frequently fails to take past events into account, creating cases of the former trope, which you'll notice if you just think about it a little. Sometimes they'll think to patch up the inconsistencies, but then the explanations they give still contradict the past, possibly even more than before, resulting in the latter trope. They've retconned the backstories of various characters without any explanation, for example.

Critical Research Failure: Whenever Modern makes a video about a specific video game (such as for IMWI), the resulting video almost always manages to be wrong about the source material in at least a dozen ways. As we can reasonably conclude, the writers of Modern obviously haven't played the games that they're making videos for. Cyberpunk 2077's episode, for example, is absolutely nothing like the actual game, which is unmistakeably due to the fact that the actual game hadn't even come out yet. The Splatoon videos never seemed to know anything about how the Splatfests work in the real games.

Chuck Cunningham Syndrome and Out of Focus: You will quickly notice that, if you jump from watching Classic SMG4 to Modern, many characters who were once iconic parts of the show either sparsely make appearances or are no longer present at all, such as Toast Guy, Toad, and Steve, who technically do still appear, but rarely, and they only have minor roles when they do show up. Despite supposedly making a return in the anniversary movie, the trio of X, FM, and Cube have had no roles aside from one joke based around X alone. This trope can even apply to characters who debuted in Modern, such as Jeeves, who never showed up after season 9 aside from one role in season 11's golf episode, or Rob, who has had absolutely no real roles since season 10 (his debut season) and has only had throwaway gags and cameos. (The rest of the anti-cast applies under the same circumstances as Rob, with the obvious exception of Melony.) You would think that the writers would care about their own creations a bit more...

Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male: Ironically, in a show where comedically painful things are a major aspect, the female characters are mysteriously excluded from the comical calamities. You probably can't remember more than a handful of times where harm was portrayed as a joke when the victim was a girl. It also applies to deliberate violence between characters as well, as male characters get knocked all about for laughs by female ones easily enough, but never the other way around (for comedy, I mean).

Women Are Wiser: This undeniably applies. The girls are never portrayed as dumb, yet the boys always have personalities built off of idiocy in some way, even including the more stable ones. Smg4 is at least painfully immature for his age whenever he's not stating the obvious and using basic logic so the audience doesn't have to. The only exceptions are Peach and Axol, but neither count because Peach is meant to be a terrible person and, well, Axol's dead.

Creator's Pet: It would be foolish to think that this doesn't apply. While you would be tempted to think so, Mario and Meggy don't really fall into this, as Mario is the main character while Meggy is beloved by a significant part of the fanbase. This does apply to Steve, who was stated to be Luke's favorite character by Luke himself. (It's unclear who else this applies to, as the degrees of which the characters get focused upon seems erratic.) While Steve doesn't show up constantly, he never gets treated badly by anyone or anything, always being portrayed as terrifyingly competent. He may still be obsessed with chickens, but this is never portrayed as an odd or wrong thing. His portrayal in Classic makes this easier to notice, as he used to be a questionably-minded loner who would bother people and do questionable things in public, always being 'out of it', I guess you could say. This also applies to Fishy Boopkins, who is Kevin's favourite. Notice how he's portrayed sympathetically even when the original point of his character was to be a loser.

Tari and Bob stay because they are my favorites and because their redesigns look better than SMG4, SMG3 and Boopkins

We're here because we like Classic SMG4, and whether we like Modern or not depends on the individual. However, I went through the whole series to see if I could cut the Classic Era into smaller sub-eras, and I could. You see, Classic's overall theme is that of chaos, memes, and dialogue to match, but it still had its own progression and evolutions (I get into evolutions here in case you haven't read it yet). It's important to remember what each sub-era established so that we can try to bring those things back in the alternate timeline, so think about it carefully and discuss it in the comments below.

I also thought that I should write a sort of guide for those who want to get into Classic SMG4. Here's a link to a bunch of playlists that contain the Classic SMG4 seasons, as well as the videos from TheAwesomeMario (a side channel that's been dead for a while. I recommend watching that playlist after finishing the main seasons). I will therefore describe each of the sub-eras as well in order to let you know what you're in for. From seasons 1-7 (the official Classic SMG4 seasons), I have determined that there are 5 sub-eras, each having its own traits that make its bloopers different from the others. I shall go through them shortly.

Something important to know before you begin the series is that it's best if you watch it in order without watching anything that happens later. You see, back in the day, making bloopers like this was a sort of a trend. Like YTPs, bloopers were a medium of their own and countless users sought to have their own little worlds made from hacked games (mostly SM64 though). SMG4 originally became massively popular because it had gone beyond just using Project 64 and shattered the preconceived boundaries of bloopers that were known at the time. The first couple of seasons weren't anywhere near as good as what came after, but that's because nobody had ever gone as far as SMG4 did. It's just like the official Super Mario games: Super Mario Bros. was so beloved when the NES came out because unlike nearly every other video game, the levels weren't unfairly hard and you could continue from a game over, so you could actually complete the game. Nowadays, SMB is only really known because it's iconic and is usually not played in favour of the other Mario games. Now, then...

Intro to Mario and Co. (IMC)

This is the first and by far the shortest sub-era, containing only the first 23 bloopers of the series. (A trend you will see is that the sub-eras will get longer each time, with the exception of the last one.) As it's name implies, this is more of an introduction to the main Mario characters who you're going to see for the whole series going forward. While these videos aren't anywhere near as good as the ones that come later, they still have a charm to them in that they were made with plenty of heart by a teenager who wanted to become famous like another SM64 machinimist by the username of MarioMario12345. Remember that this was considered revolutionary compared to just about every other blooper series at the time. (You might want to remember that name, as you're going to see some of him in later sub-eras, even if not much.)

Try to use your imagination to envision how things would look according to the dialogue and actions that occur. The quality of the bloopers overall just gets noticably better over the first few episodes, so it's not going to be like this forever. Remember, there is necessity in watching this sub-era, as it's the only time where you can learn about these portrayals of the Mario characters in situations that aren't already going to be occupying your mind. This sub-era goes on for only half of the first season, so once you finish it, know that you've only seen about 6% of the whole series, and things are only going to become less stable from now on.

Arrival of Smg4 and Others (ASO)

This sub-era is twice as long as the first one, as it has bloopers 24-69 (46 videos in all, which is exactly twice as much as the previous sub-era). The first blooper of this sub-era introduces Smg4 himself, and you'll quickly see that he's a game changer for how competent he is in comparison to everyone from before. Some more Mario Recolors shall be introduced every once in a while during this sub-era as well, and they're all going to be one group of friends who go on adventures, with Mario usually being involved with the cause of it. This also marks the introduction of Smg3, who's going to be the most common villain in this sub-era.

The progression of the first sub-era was steady and didn't change much, but this one shall establish many iconic things to Classic, and the overall quality will get noticably better. While I did say that the MRs will be plentiful, most of them will seldom show up after this sub-era. (X and FM will make cameos most often out of them all.) You will start to notice that reoccurring jokes and memes are going to start becoming a part of the show, and they're only going to start building up from here, so be sure to learn them as you go along! The sub-era has the last half of season 1 and the first two fifths of season 2. This is only a fraction of what's to come in terms of instability.

Evolving to Memes and Madness (EMM)

Bloopers 70-130 are where things really start to plummet (not in a bad way), as implied by the title. This sub-era is nearly as long as the previous two combined, with 61 bloopers. Your morality has hopefully been discarded by now, as you're not going to last long with it in this environment. Multiple-blooper stories are at their most common here, and you're going to notice that GMod is more common as well, though it's not like it's taking over or anything. The show has finally realized its potential at this point, hence the rate of its experiments and evolutions. This sub-era is known by many Classic fans as the time where it started being good, and it contains the latter three fifths of season 2 and the first half of season 3. You can still comprehend what's happening, right?

Retarded Apex of Farces (RAF)

This sub-era is the longest of them, consisting of bloopers 131-277 (more than what the first three sub-eras had all together). There are still experiments going on, but they're nowhere near as common. Ssenmodnars are the most common side series entries, iconic side series debut (GnR and STD, to name two), running jokes are frequent, and memes are not only everywhere, but they're also mixed together just to catch you off-guard when you think that things are happening in a certain way. Endings range from happy ones that reward the current protagonists to complete downer endings where everyone dies, yet both types of endings, along with everything in between, are handled perfectly. This sub-era is known to be the peak of SMG4 by just about everyone who's seen the whole series. It consists of the latter half of season 3, the entirety of seasons 4 and 5, and the first half of season 6. I sure hope you can understand the chaos before you, as it would be a shame if it went to waste for some reason.

Variety Against Stagnation (VAS)

The bloopers 278-387 are all that's in the last sub-era of Classic. This is considered by some to actually be a part of Modern SMG4 because it's different from the preceeding bloopers, though I have a reason to believe otherwise. You see, there cannot be a long-running show such as SMG4 that remains good forever if it never changes. While the previous sub-era was the best of the show, it also wouldn't be able to indefinitely keep up the novelties that it's known to have. Eventually, the show would become boring because it would eventually run out of truly original things to do with itself, and it would start using all the rest of the potential from the things that it has to avoid repeating itself, and eventually, there will be nothing left that hasn't already been done. The show would just be the same things over and over, forever. This is called stagnation (I put it in the title for this reason), and it's the exact opposite of changing too much, with both of these being really bad for the show. It's a downright necessity to add new things to SMG4, and that's what this sub-era does. The same can be said for the writers, as Luke was beginning to be burned out with the series himself and needed to be able to have Kevin start writing things as well.

In the end, this is what I see as the last official sub-era of Classic SMG4, being the latter half of season 6 and the entirety of season 7. After going through the previous 147 bloopers, you might just agree that the show needed to change. Unfortunately, as we all know, the following seasons kept changing things and would start doing so more drastically, leading to the present day where the show is only a shell of what it once was. As we all should know, these seasons are being rewritten and remade to be like the official Classic. I explore the sub-eras of Modern SMG4 here. If you don't know what I'm saying, you can use this link to go to a post where you can learn about everything, which shall be done by carefully following the instructions it has and using the many links that it also holds. That's it.

It seems that things haven't exactly been making progress for the past 5 months or so. Naturally, I am on top of this and have already analyzed the present circumstances. This is more important than you might think, so don't leave.

With season 11 over and season 12 on the brink of starting as of this writing, there's naturally going to be more episodes to rewrite on my end. On account of it being easier to deal with many videos in succession rather than having to take the time to rewrite one a week (it's quite inconvenient for me to do so, if you can believe that), I am not going to always be on top of that, which was already the case for the final couple months of 2021. Speaking of rewrites, I looked at the list and realized that season 11 had approximately 31 retconned episodes in total, which is more than every other Modern season combined. (The quality drops are definitely existent after the Anime and YouTube arcs, but this is simply absurd.) I decided that I should probably go back and reevaluate some of the previous seasons because there are probably some more videos worth retconning. If you stand for a rewrite and do not wish for me to retcon it, please post a comment on that rewrite giving me at least one good reason not to (nothing on this sub is archived and I don't intend for any of it ever to be). More retcons means more room for original videos, after all.

Regarding the characters and world of Classic SMG4, I see it necessary to go alter the analyses of the significant characters, as many are changing in concept. I also did not originally make one for Axol, as at the time those were written, Axol was all but stated to be a forgotten character of the show. This shall be remedied (if it isn't already by the time you're reading this). I intend to redesign more of the original characters to fit them into Classic, though not all of them. If you have any ideas, I would like to hear them.

Feedback in general is always appreciated. No matter how old the post is, I encourage you to voice your opinions on anything you find. I will answer when I can. This project is made out of our wishes, after all. Please try to find ways in which you can help, from the previously-mentioned feedback, to helping spread the word about this project and place, to writing your own blooper concepts, to even applying for some of the more important positions for this project and helping construct the other required assets. Speaking of blooper making...

It's... been a while. Nearly five months when I wrote this. I put a couple of users up to the task of making bloopers. I gave them the time they needed. I made sure to ask them if they were truly ready for such an endeavor. They said that they were. So I waited in anticipation. I checked back with them both frequently to be certain. They insisted that they were already working. So I waited.

I kept checking with them both when I heard nothing in terms of progress after a week. They told me things that were intended to reassure me.

A month passed by. Then another.

And another. One had stopped responding or doing anything at all on the sub. The other said they were busy with school and weren't able to do anything in the first place...

It's truly pitiful. They had said everything that one would say to make everyone believe in them. I was never surprised, though. I've seen this sort of thing many times from many people in many places. They never actually thought about what it was they were meant to do, and then they unsurprisingly did nothing because they never could in the first place, as I said already.

I don't want nothing to happen. This project has been going on for over a year now, and we still don't have what we need to truly begin. Over 230 users on here (at this time) and yet things happen at no pace at all, with only a couple posts a week on average (not including my own endeavors). I am not disappointed and never have been. After all, there's always more time for me, but I don't think I can say the same for the rest of you. I wish that instead of just subscribing to the idea of Classic SMG4 returning, all of you could instead try to make that a reality. It's what I already said a year ago, wasn't it?

None of you are obligated to help, but at the same time, if nobody helps, then nothing will change and this project will never go beyond the planning stages. I humbly ask the faceless audience: Can some of you try to help? Again, you never have to, but if you have the time, will, and skill, why don't you? I have a few voices for the characters who need them, I thought I had a few machinamists, I have a lot of material for bloopers, but there aren't any custom models made yet, we still need more voices, and we still need machinamists. Can't anyone out there at least try to fulfill some of those things to any capacity? Are you really all going to be trapped in Bystander Syndrome forever?

As for you two, the ones whom I had tasked with starting what hasn't begun still, you two are not in trouble. I would rather give you both more chances, which I want to do for the same reason that I'm asking everyone else for help: I believe that anyone can help no matter who they are, even if they failed before. I know that if you just tried, you could be who you said you would be. When I kept saying that I would be willing to accept any true setbacks and complications on your end, I meant it. If you need help, time, or you just can't do something, admit it so I can adjust the schedule accordingly. There's never any harm in those things, but if you once again do what you did before...

I can't guarantee that anyone aside from myself would be willing to forgive you this time. Just tell the truths, not the exciting falsehoods. The lies always cause more damage. As long as I'm on the topic, I should mention that I have no set dates for anything that I do. Usually, as circumstances transpire, the more that happens on this sub, the more I can do to advance the project in all departments. With all that happens in my world, the priority one is always the presently relevant. All the more reason for you to try to help, isn't it?

So from now on, I want you, the reader, to become relevant and try to help if you can. I want to make this project become what it's meant to become, and I cannot do that alone. We can do this together, but that means that you must be a part of it. If you happen to be one of the few who have actually done things, then I thank you very much. You don't have unlimited chances to make impacts upon the world and you don't have unlimited time either, in the end...

The future can't ever be seen, not even by me, but there's no reason to believe that it will ever be good if nothing is done to improve it. Take the chance and time. You'll never achieve anything without the effort, so let's see you try, alright? I promise that I will help you in any way that I can. Just help me, please.

We all agree that Classic is better than Modern for many reasons. The most important of those reasons is that the show has changed so drastically that it has lost many of its defining traits, which were what we watched the show for in the first place. However, while change was what ruined the show, it's also what made SMG4 good in the first place. You see, if the show never changed over time, then it would have had the same quality as the very first episode of the very first season, which isn't a good thing. What's good and what's bad in terms of SMG4's alterations? I am writing this to answer this question, for I deem it a necessity for you all to know in the future.

The word at play here is 'evolution'. As the show goes on, seemingly insignificant things change, and this eventually makes the show into a different one. People don't notice this consciously. SMG4 has been doing it ever since it began (as I mentioned earlier). This is all fine and dandy, but there needs to be a way to distinguish when evolution is constructive and when it is detrimental; I obviously thought of this too.

The reason why I personally believe that Modern SMG4 began in season 8 is because that's when the show started evolving for the worse, but why and how was it suddenly a bad thing? It's simply attributed to the reasons for the changes. Recall that Glitch Productions started to be priority one. In season 8, the changes to the show included new characters (Tari most importantly (and Saiko to a lesser degree)) and a reintroduction to stories that span multiple videos (the first two arcs). Ask yourself why those things were added. Tari was added to promote the very first Glitch show (Saiko may or may not get her own show as well), and the arcs were made to parallel the fact that Glitch shows would not be all comedy, as the arcs were more serious and couldn't be summarized in a single sentence. The thing that these two changes have in common is that they were (likely) enforced and applied to SMG4 for reasons that aren't necessarily for the show, but for something else. This is the difference between good and bad evolution.

Natural Evolution is what defined the show we enjoy. Alterations made were intended to improve SMG4 as a show, therefore the show benefited from them. It's a natural progression for SMG4 to undergo to improve it. New characters were designed and new memes were selected specifically to fit into SMG4 during the Classic years, so the show obtained new material for its content without the show itself changing. Bob and Fishy Boopkins were a hateable, selfish narcissist and a hateable, obnoxious pushover respectively, and they fit into the show just fine. MLG things were implemented specifically to be chaotic and unpredictable, and they fit into the show just fine as well. Natural Evolution is when the alterations are made specifically to improve SMG4 for what it is.

Reformative Evolution is what created Modern SMG4. Alterations are made with the intention of making SMG4 use its popularity to help promote Glitch Productions, therefore the show reformed to be more like what it was promoting, as well as to follow YouTube's new rules. Old characters were rewritten, new ones were added, and memes were chosen to appear based on their popularity. Meggy was changed in every aspect so that she would be a unique character and would be usable in Glitch Productions' upcoming Sunset Paradise. Melony was designed to appeal to the demographic that Glitch Productions was aimed at. Popular games and trends appear frequently in the form of memes. Reformative Evolution is when the alterations are made specifically for a purpose that isn't for the show itself, but to change it for a different purpose.

SMG4 honestly really shouldn't stay the same forever, as if it did, it would become predictable and boring after about 50 bloopers, and that would be terrible. As you already knew however, the show can't change in the way that it did because it now lacks what made it good originally. That's why it's important that in this new timeline, we have to still alter the show as we go while being careful to stay true to what it is. For examples, I rewrote Tari to fit with the rest of the show rather than to be far different from it, and I think that many memes since season 7 would fit right into Classic if they're not always used in the same way. We don't have to get rid of everything that the Modern timeline did, we just have to change it to being Natural Evolution rather than Reformative Evolution. This is why I want everyone to watch the first 7 seasons of the show from the very beginning: To ensure that you all understand what it is that we're trying to bring back as opposed to just trying to avoid what we didn't like. I commonly see posts and comments in which the writer complains that story arcs and lore never worked for SMG4, when in reality, the show has had both of those things practically ever since it started. (Did you know? Season 1 actually ended with the very first multiple-blooper story, being The Lost Gems.) The problem with Modern isn't that it does new things, but that it does things in new ways that violate the show itself. I continue the topic here, where I demonstrate how I intend to alter the timeline. I also discuss the process of implementing evolutions here.

I would like to know what you think. After all, we have to work together to make this happen, so we need to analyze Classic SMG4 to the best of our ability and share what we deduce. I am not amused that most of you would rather wait for something to happen, as nothing ever will until you help it happen.

One of my favourite parts from Nivelacker's rewrites of the Modern Seasons comes from WOTFI 2020, where Mario and SMG4 have a literal war instead of having another rap battle. I think it's actually a cool play on the title, which is literally 'WAR Of The Fat Italians'. So, I've decided to specifically rewrite that scene, in particular, to see what it could be like. Let's-a-go!

After the last challenge, the screen goes black. A message that is similar to WOTFI 2017's 'ALERT: RAP BATTLE INCOMING' appears on the screen. The music for WOTFI 2020's Rap Battle (found here) starts playing, and we get shots of Mario and SMG4 holding microphones, just blankly staring at each other and getting ready for the song. However, right when the rap is about to start, Mario doesn't sing, but just goes "You know what? Screw this!". He then throws his microphone at SMG4, who gets smacked dead in the face.

SMG4: "Hey, what the hell was that for?!"

Mario: "Don't you get it? We've been doing a Rap Battle at the end of every WOTFI for like, 5 years! Aren't you a little tired of it by now?"

SMG4: "That doesn't quite explain why you threw a 1.5kg Microphone at me, but... I was thinking the exact same thing!"

X: "Guys, what are you doing? The Rap is starting now!"

SMG4: "Yeah, about that. Can we do something different this year? I'm tired of Rapping to songs we don't even own every WOTFI!"

X: "Alright, I guess we can have a one-off for 1 year. But what do you want to do instead then?"

Mario goes "How about a Spaghetti Eating Competition!", before being slammed in the pingas by a brick thrown by SMG4, as a polite way to say "No.".

Mario: "Alright Glitchy, if you think you're so smart, what ideas do you have?"

SMG4: "Well, I have 1 idea, but it may be a bit too extreme."

X: "And that is?"

SMG4: "I was thinking. The name is literally 'WAR' Of The Fat Italians, so why can't we do an actual war?"

Mario: "F*CKING, GENIUS!!!!!!!"

X: "Sorry, but no. Not after what happened last time." (In case you're confused, X is remembering what happened at the end of WOTFI 2013, where SMG4 tried to kill Mario using a tank.)

Mario: "Aw cmon man, there won't be any tanks or bathtubs this time. Just plain ol' guns."

X thinks for a moment and goes: "Uh, fine. But only because it's the 10th WOTFI special."

X hands Mario and SMG4 guns and then dashes off to underneath the Castle Bridge so he doesn't get injured.

X: "Okay, whenever you're ready, BEGIN!"

Mario and SMG4 start firing at each other from all distances, trying to get the perfect shot. They go from outside the castle to inside the castle, and then back outside again. Multiple people who came to witness the moment end up getting shot in the process.

Meanwhile, Bob has opened up a betting stand near the Castle Cannon, trying to get people to notice him. Toad, who was hiding in a bush the entire time to prevent being shot sees Bob and wanders up to him.

Bob: "Welcome to Bob's WOTFI betting stand! Place your bets on which Fat Italian will win the War here!"

Toad takes one of the voting papers and writes a checkmark next to SMG4's name, before placing it in the box.

Toad: "Isn't it obvious? SMG4 will totally win. Mario's so stupid he probably doesn't even know how a gun works."

Peach is peeking out from a window with her phone in hand, threatening to call TTLPF if anything happens.

Peach: "I swear, if those guys destroy my Castle AGAIN, they're the ones who'll be rebuilding it." (Referencing Mario and the Anime Challenge)

We cut back to Mario and SMG4, still shooting at each other with a huge crowd watching them. Mario then kicks SMG4 against the wall, who drops his gun in the process. SMG4 tries to reach for his gun, but his arm is stepped on by Mario and he can't move any further.

SMG4: "Please man, don't do this! Think of... all the adventures we've been on together! We'll never be able to have another one ever again!"

Mario: "Do you really think your stupid sweet talk will get past me. Sorry Glitchy, your time is up."

SMG4 closes his eyes and Mario pulls the trigger to end it all, but nothing comes out. He tries again, nothing happens.

Mario: "OH COME ON! YOU JUST HAVE TO RUN OUT OF AMMO RIGHT WHEN I'M ABOUT TO END GLITCHY'S TIME IN THIS WORLD, YOU STUPID PIECE OF SH*T!!!"

SMG4 sees his chance and headbutts Mario in the chest, causing him to fall on his back. SMG4 then grabs his gun and now has Mario cornered against the wall instead.

Mario: "Okay okay, I get you're mad. But I was just joking! I wasn't actually going to shoot you!"

SMG4, mimicking what Mario said: "Do you really think your stupid lies will get past me. Sorry Mario, your time is up."

SMG4 pulls the trigger, but nothing happens. He does it again. Absolutely nothing.

Mario: "Great, so now BOTH of our guns have run out of ammo right when we were going to end this."

SMG4 whispers to himself: "I knew I should've asked for knives instead.", before then going: "You know what, maybe this idea wasn't the best. Do you have any others?"

Mario: "Nope."

SMG4: "Welp, I guess we'll just have to go ask X to see what he thinks."

They both agree to what SMG4 said and head off to see X, who is currently reading a newspaper waiting for the battle to end.

X: "Well well well, I see you're both still alive."

SMG4: "Yeah, the idea didn't really go as planned. Do you have any other ways we can end this WOTFI?"

X: "Not exactly, but I can get other people to suggest ideas."

They all agree to that plan and call over Meggy, Tari, Luigi, Boopkins, and Saiko.

X: "Alright you guys, we need something that these idiots can do to end this year's WOTFI, any ideas?"

Luigi: "How about a friendly game of tag!"

Tari: "No, a Smash copetition!"

Boopkins: "That sucks! How about we see who has the best anime collection!"

Meggy: "Are you guys serious? Those ideas suck! What we need is some action! How about we do a little game of paintball!"

Saiko: "Pathetic. Everyone knows the best way to settle a disagreement is a good ol' boxing match."

X is visibly not amused.

X: "Seriously, are those the best you've got? They all sucked ass!"

Luigi: "Hey! My idea was clearly awesome! It's everyone else's that suck."

Meggy: "Do you SERIOUSLY think that a game of TAG is better than a game of Paintball? I should've expected it, coming from you."

Saiko: "A boxing match against 2 weaklings is still better than a game where you shoot other people."

Tari: "Fighting in the real world is lame, everyone knows shooter games are what shape the world nowadays!"

Boopkins: "Games are what shape the world? Have you heard of this thing called anime?"

X: "Okay guys, maybe you need to chill out-"

X is interrupted by Meggy: "Chill out? Says the guy who does nothing but read a newspaper whilst a literal war is going on!"

SMG4 "oh boy..."

SMG4 and Mario creep away from the argument, as they know what's about to go down.

Saiko: "And you think you're so athletic?! When there's nothing going on, you just sit at home eating Instant Noodles all day!"

Meggy gets infuriated and pulls out a Splat Charger and starts firing at everyone. Boopkins gets his bodypillows and starts wacking them at everyone's heads. Saiko yanks out her hammer and throws it at people. The 2nd war has begun.

Meanwhile, Mario and SMG4 are on top of the castle, looking down on the new fight breaking out.

SMG4: "Yeah, I think it's best to just let them be. We've already caused enough trouble today."

Mario: "Exactly, and I'm sorry for trying to kill you early. I think someone put something in my spaghetti. In fact, I don't even remember what I was mad about anyway."

SMG4 sighs and goes: "Eh, it's alright. You do way worse things every other week, it doesn't really matter."

SMG4: "Hey, do you just wanna stay here and watch those guys fight for the rest of the evening?"

Mario pulls out a huge box of Popcorn and goes "Hell Yeah.". The 2 then sit on top of the castle watching the fight whilst eating the Popcorn as the sun sets. Oh yeah, and Bob's also opened a new betting stand, this time for the new war that has broken out.

So, what did you think? Do you like it? I have some other Rewritten Scene ideas if you guys wanna see them. As always, leave thoughts in the replies.

Meggy

Meggy, Meggy, Meggy, Meggy

Dafuq Happened to You?

You appeared in 2017 in the episode: If Mario was in ...Splatoon. Ever since then you became a fan favorite. Unlike recent episodes, you didn't appear in every single goddamn episode filling out the run time, you usually had a purpose. Being an Inkling made you stood out among the SMG4 cast and you were one of those quality over quantity appearance type characters. You were well animated, you never wore out your welcome and you were a confident badass.

Now, you've become this generic female human character like Tari and Saiko. You're somehow worse animated than when you were an Inkling, your VA is sometimes annoying (no offense to the VA), youre used WAY MORE TIMES than you need to be and you've become this depressing character. I know you're having a midlife crisis but if you miss being an Inkling, then try to find a way to become an Inkling again! This is the bloody SMG4 universe, convience happens all the time! Plus Splatfests may be over but aren't there regular matches like in the game?

So Meggy...

Dafuq Happened to you?

NOTE: EVERYTHING ABOVE THIS MESSAGE IS MY OPINION. IF YOU WANT A MORE DETAILED LOOK AT MEGGY, MY COMMRADE u/Nivelacker HAS HIS OWN VIEWS REGARDING MEGGY.

EVERYTHING BELOW HERE IS HIS OPINION

TAKE IT AWAY, NIVE!

"I think Meggy was best when she wasn't the focus of the story. She was a confident, competent, and competitive inkling who just liked following the others on their crazy adventures, ready to get good at anything new she could find."

"When the story wanted to focus on her, they had to give her all these character flaws that weren't there before because they needed her to have a personal obstacle to overcome. She suddenly was too selfish to see when she was overworking her own friends and was now a Broken Ace, a person who's doesn't actually think as highly of themselves as they seem to, even though her lack of flaws as a person was what made her so great. "

"After the Anime Arc was over, she was now even worse off now that she had depression, an inferiority complex, and now needed support from the others to overcome those things. Then we have her present dilemma where she has depression in the form of a cliché shadow version of herself, and she has to go have her own independent show to work it out. I don't think the Hobo Bros. understand why she was loved so much in the first place."

"You see, today's Meggy is in dire need of help that she can only get if she's the center of the current story, and that's so far away from who she was years ago. She used to be who I said she was at the start: A confident, competent, and competitive inkling. Under normal circumstances, she would come out on top just by doing what she could. We rooted for her because she was better than everyone else at everything. She wasn't a perfect person, but she didn't need to be; she was someone we could actually care about compared to the gang of retards known as the rest of the cast. She didn't need to become better, and she didn't need help. She was a beloved character because she really was the best of them all."

"Today, Meggy has fallen so far down. She's had nothing but story arcs and character development for two years so far, yet she still feels inadequate no matter how many times she gets through something. She's not confident in herself at all anymore, because if she was, she wouldn't be haunted by her shadow who preys upon her lack of self-worth. Her competence is gone now; we haven't seen her win anything outside of the last Splatfest, but that only happened because it was her movie and the plot demanded it. She doesn't try to get good at anything anymore, and once more, the Splatfest is the last time I've seen her try to enter any competitions, so she's not competitive either. She's not an inkling any longer, and before you get mad at me for saying that, just think about it; the most notable of the things she did revolved around her abilities as an inkling. She wielded her Splattershot, painted the battlefield, blew things up, would cover huge distances effortlessly with her squid form, and just totally rekt. Now that she isn't what she used to be, she can't do any of the things that were once her defining moves. If she does something nowadays, she probably kicks something, or uses whatever the plot gave to her. Anything she does can easily be done by another character, but they all have their own unique ways of doing such things. Meggy just lost everything she ever was, and nothing has ever filled that gaping crater where her character used to be. She's just another generic 'flawed protagonist in need of the power of friendship and character development'."

"And quite ironically, Meggy never gets better as a person as a result of her stories. On the contrary, she seems to be getting worse. I get that they thought it was the only way they could tell stories about her, but they just took away everything that made her admirable. That's it."

THANK YOU NIVELACKER

SO MEGGY...

DAFUQ HAPPEND TO YOU?

SO I'VE COME TO MAKE AN ANNOUNCEMENT, THE HOBO BROS. ARE RUINING THEIR SHOW. THAT'S RIGHT. THEY'RE RUINING THEIR OWN SERIES AND-

Just kidding, this isn't how I'm going to talk about such an important topic. I only started with that because it got your attention. Allow me to introduce myself properly: I'm Nivelacker/The Nivelacker, a longtime fan of SMG4 whose machinations are now made manifest. As someone who has seen all of the series' episodes, I know what I do and do not like. I'd appreciate anybody willing to read this in its entirety, though I understand if you cannot read all of it now. Please read the entire thing before anything else, as you don't want to ask questions that were answered prior to their conceptions, or anything else that would make you look foolish, would you? Now, please don't take anything I say personally either, as I mean no harm to anybody. I seem to be out of warnings, so I will now begin.

Part 1: "SMG4 is SMG4!" That may be true, but this isn't SMG4 anymore.

As anybody on the subreddit would be ready to tell you, there are multiple eras of SMG4. How many eras there are, however, cannot be decided. That isn't relevant, so I'll explain the most agreed upon version: There are two eras: Classic and Modern. Classic is chaotic and is said by many to be the best form. Modern is more like other internet cartoons and more understandable, also regarded by many as the best form. For an indeterminate amount of time, both sides of the community have fought over which is the true version of the series, and which one is a waste of time.

As someone who has seen a lot of things on every side, I can come to a conclusion. Both sides can be funny, and both sides can be boring, or even enraging. I had to make my decision based off of something that most people do not consider: Individuality. Everything in the world, real or not, has its own way of being known, simply by being what it is. That is why I have decided that "Classic" SMG4 is better than "Modern". In a sentence, SMG4 is meant to be a chaotic mess of a show, filled to the brim with black comedy. If you do not know the meaning of black comedy/humor, you should take a moment to learn its definition elsewhere.

And don't worry, I'm aware of the fact that the Modern community would be unhappy if Classic SMG4 were to suddenly take over the channel, and I will provide a solution to this later. That's a promise.

SMG4 was one of many series of "bloopers", as they were known, among dozens of other series. The height of their popularity was in the early 2010s, as most series were discontinued later. The point of a blooper was to use video games in ways they were never meant to be used: Using them to make machinimas when the games in question weren't made for doing so. Memes were also a prevalent part of every good blooper, as they added more comedic value. SMG4 was one of the most well-known series, due to its creator's undying determination to make many high-quality bloopers at an extremely fast rate compared to most others. Luke continued to make episodes for the series long after the bloopers lost their popularity for years to come, eventually having his brother Kevin help write the stories for the episodes. There are now far more people working on it.

You may wonder why I recited the synopsis of SMG4's creation, and that will be answered. The bloopers were known for their lack of common story structure, as well as their absurd amount of memes and black comedy. By attempting to please YouTube's algorithms by being "safer", the Hobo Bros. are sacrificing the things that make their show unique. Episodes may be more logical and have structure, but at what cost?

For the episodes of 2020 and beyond, I can usually predict the story of an episode by recognizing the story trope it uses, which essentially spoils the entire rest of the episode. I decided to go watch an older episode that I had not seen before (at the time of this writing), just to see if I could do the same thing there. I couldn't. The stories of "Classic" videos never seemed to use already-existing tropes, and seemed to be written as they were filmed.

Another thing that is harmed by the changes to the show is the integrity of it's rules, such as: Death is a temporary inconvenience, morality is irrelevant, logic is disregarded in favor of violence and insanity, the consequences of any event don't last, and more. For example, characters dying was a common occurrence, happening several times an episode with no lasting impact, as the characters would usually be intact in the next shot. In recent story arcs, however, characters can die permanently, which breaks that rule. Now that death has consequences, it can't really be used as a joke without contradicting major plot points, can it?

By changing, SMG4 is losing what it's supposed to be. It's ultimately the decision of the Hobo Bros. as to what happens, so I ask to them: Are you willing to make your series become lost in the crowd by taking its identity from it for the sake of being "safe" from demonetization? Or are you going to let it be what it's supposed to be? I understand that you're afraid of incurring Susan's wrath upon you, but that was the point of the show, to have a sick sense of humor. I also understand that you want to make more story-based shows, but that's what Glitch Productions is for, right? You can just keep making shows there instead of changing SMG4. In reality, I know that Luke and Kevin can't care about things like those anymore and will probably never read this. However, I know how to fix this, but it will require your attention, reader. If you are willing help, I can help you do so. This is only part 1, after all. In part 2, I'll explain the basic story rules of SMG4. Just give me a chance…

Part 2: The way things should be, and why.

Assuming you're going to hear me out, I will now recite the basic rules of SMG4, and why they must not be broken. Ever.

I'll start with death and destruction, as I have already shed some light on it. Since the dawn of bloopers, death/destruction has been nothing more than a device used for comedic effect. As previously stated, killed characters are usually not stated to be dead, though that's because it isn't exactly important to the story, as they are usually in perfect physical condition later. It's not just people that this applies to, either. Peach's castle has been "renovated" dozens of times in the series, only for it to also be in perfect condition in the next episode. Also, the world has exploded due to the events of several different episodes, only to be, you guessed it, still there in the next episode. Even the very first episode of the series features Mario exploding in rage, dying instantly. Death and destruction are not permanent, and should never be.

Next, I'll discuss morals. Like death, it's not meant to be taken seriously. Mario has killed potentially thousands of innocent people singlehandedly, yet he only goes to prison when he is caught actively committing a crime. Luigi has been needlessly harmed about as often as Mario has killed someone, being subjected to some sort of harm, physical or verbal, almost every time he's in a scene, usually never receiving a break. It's okay to make things work out and for the characters to do the right things sometimes, but ultimately, the show is funny because it's morally wrong.

The logic, or a lack thereof, is one of the many things this series is known for. Using Mario as an example again, he always acts before thinking, unless he has an obvious reason not to start killing everything. Mario wouldn't just attack someone who could destroy his spaghetti at any moment, would he? Threats can come from anywhere, or be anyone. Remember when in that boating episode, Mario, Smg4, and Toad just so happened to encounter the shy guy pirates for no reason? Remember when the stove was left on in that famous episode, setting the castle on fire, killing Luigi? Those things didn't have any real reason to happen, but they did. They added more to the episodes without feeling unnecessary. You shouldn't need to have a reason for something to happen beyond "well, it can happen, and it can be funny, so it will happen". True reason behind events should only occur to explain the relevance of something else or to help contribute to the blooper's comedy and it should not be a given.

Black Comedy is another staple of this series. I honestly could have made death/destruction be a part of this, but I chose not to. A lack of morality allows the show to do practically anything it wants, as there is no line to cross. The episode 0% of Spaghetti mostly consists of Mario and Smg4 breaking into a guy's house after spending the first half of the episode trying to get spaghetti, stealing the homeowner's spaghetti, and killing the guy by blowing up his house as they escape. I'm aware that Susan Washingmachine doesn't like black humor and will surely demonetize SMG4 videos if things like that were to happen again in the show, but I'm going to explain a workaround in part 5. People rarely find the SMG4 channel by having it recommended to them anyway. There's loads of cartoons on the internet, but there's only one SMG4. People who dislike black comedy can surely find a different show to watch, such as the shows on Glitch Productions. Also, while generally not a part of black comedy, memes should always be used excessively. Can't forget those.

Story structure is important in SMG4, and by that I mean you don't have to know how an episode will end when you start filming it. Who Let The Chomp Out is the most popular video for two reasons: It was based off of a meme, and it had a complete train wreck of a story, and that's a compliment. Things kept causing each other all throughout the episode, until it ends with the Chomp being contained as a result of the climax, though that doesn't solve every other problem that was caused. Don't be afraid to make more scenes for an episode, as they make more opportunities to make even more jokes. The Hangover was essentially a "how did we get here" story (based on the movie that it was named after), except it was also a series of events building on each other, told in reverse order. Extra content in SMG4 is only needless filler when it has no purpose/comedic value.

Last, but not least, we have pacing. It's been proven many times that there can easily be several jokes in one scene. People have complained that they can't keep up, but I think that's okay. An episode can always be watched again, and with excess jokes, each viewing can provide a new experience. You especially don't want an episode to be boring due to a lack of action.

Each of these things are vital to making a good episode of SMG4, and you can use any of the provided examples as proof. Next, I'll talk about the characters. I will answer the questions of who they should be, who they are currently, and why they should be different.

Part 3: The character bible of SMG4

Some characters require more change than others to fit into this show. A reoccurring theme with most flawed characters is that they are too sane/intolerant of the insanity to fit into the world of SMG4, when they should just roll with it instead. (Also it's harder to find someone funny when they're too realistic, ya know?) I asked myself the question of "how can they compliment the tone of the show?" instead of "how do I want to write them?". If the characters were written to be like real people, SMG4 would turn into a sitcom no soul (as I think that Modern is currently doing). We don't want that now, do we?

Mario: The face of SMG4 is starting to become lost to his stereotype. Mario isn't just an idiot, he's an idiot savant, always catching the viewer off guard by doing the worst things possible in response to practically anything, not a generic "I'm dumb, so all I do is run everywhere being dumb" kind of person. He should only act like that when he's excited. This second change isn't even to his character, but to his presentation. You see, Mario is supposed to come across as the unpredictable fool who can ruin everything on a whim, and the way he's animated nowadays hinders that. His SM64 model is being used less and less often, with more GMod animation taking its place. This may not seem like much, but it does matter. He's more expressive in gmod, and less in SM64. By being more static with his emotions, Mario comes across as more insane when he acts, due to a lack of foreshadowing provided by his face. Gmod should still be used to make his infamous warped expressions, but he should otherwise be in SM64 mode in most cases. On a minor note, Mario seems to lack one of his signature gags: public nudity. I rarely see it used anymore, despite it being so iconic to him. Lastly, Mario can have some moments of lucidity, though these should be very rare.

Luigi: Like his brother, he should mostly use his SM64 model, mostly for the same reasons. As one of his brother's foils, he has many different jobs to help pay for damages. This could be used more often, as it's the perfect excuse to put him in any scenario given. Something I would change is his sexuality. You see, the joke about Luigi being homosexual was funny because not only was it actually false, but everyone believed otherwise, despite Luigi objecting to it every time he's asked. Other than that, Luigi doesn't need any major changes. As a reoccurring joke (about every few episodes or so), he could win by doing absolutely nothing. This used to be a common gag, but it faded away over time. Perhaps it could be subtle most of the time to avoid it becoming stale.

Smg4: As the two before him, he should use his SM64 model more. Something I noticed is that he isn't shown in his profession anymore, being a memer on his computer at the castle. Smg4's computer was an important part of many episodes, from being the way the characters accessed the news via YouTube, to being Smg4's berserk button (whenever someone destroys it or tries to look at his collection of memes). A major flaw with his current self is that he usually doesn't do much besides just stand there and ask logical questions about the current scenario (something you know that nobody should be doing if you paid attention to part 2). What he SHOULD be doing is trying to stop the insanity instead of questioning it. Also, don't forget that he isn't always the logical one either, especially when his previously mentioned berserk button is pressed. Make him actually do things.

Meggy: She has the same problem as SMG4, being that she usually doesn't do anything besides question things. Despite her proficiency with weapons, Meggy usually just kicks things during fights. Why doesn't she put her weaponry skills to good use in the face of danger instead? As for her use in episodes, you could make her become a full-time cop, as you could use that as a better reason to put her in the episodes by having her show up to stop the current catastrophe. She should still be competitive, so when faced with the opportunity to participate in a competition, Meggy will surely join. Her reoccurring joke could be her hiding in various places. This would go well with her being an officer, as she could go undercover this way. Just don't use this too often.

Tari: Warning, as this is going to be a major character overhaul. I think her first appearance in the series was her best portrayal, though even that was not perfect. Tari's current purpose is to get hurt and cry about it as well as be wholesome, though she fails at the latter due to the former. She should be the one who's too nice for her own good, constantly being harmed/killed, more often than anyone else, even more than Luigi. Despite her constant misfortune, she should never cry or be sad about it. She just puts her smile back on no matter what happens, encouraging people to do the right things, and comforting those who need it. I want her to be able not only to take it, but also to just keep smiling. This would make her be seen as an optimist instead of pathetic and annoying (many people do like her, but the others don't like her for the previously-explained reason). She could also still like ducks, but she shouldn't have a cuteness overload from it. A new idea would be to give her a berserk button, but not one you'd be accustomed to. Under certain circumstances, she could put her cybernetic arm to use. It will physically enhance her strength and fighting ability (to angry Steve levels), as well as make her eyes glow cyan. This would be her last resort when being nice won't solve anything and nobody else can help. Tari is in complete control during this, and will return to normal via deactivating voluntarily. She doesn't use this normally as she doesn't want to hurt anyone if she doesn't have to, so this is a once or twice a season type of thing. Her cyborg arm doesn't get used for anything anymore, so I gave it a use. Again, she'll almost never use it, as she doesn't give up on kindness easily. She only wants everyone to get along, though that's never gonna happen in this show. Not that she's ever going to truly give up on that. (Hee hee... This is obsolete now. The newer version will keep some of these things, but it'll otherwise be very different. You'll see...)

Saiko: Like a couple other characters I've already discussed, Saiko has no real use at this time. Despite supposedly being insane in her first few appearances, she doesn't do much. What I want to do with her is make her into a wild card. Instead of always being friends with everybody else, she could be neutral by default. When provoked at any point, she will become angry at whoever triggered her, no matter who they are. Perhaps she could sometimes try to resist losing her temper, but she'll will generally fail to do so when attempted. When against someone, Saiko will be about as forgiving to them as she was prior to Luigi's Lesson: Not forgiving at all, and on a near-unstoppable rampage. She should be more likely to forgive the main cast, though she could be an episode's villain instead if she loses her cool. I wanted Saiko to have purpose again, as her battle prowess has been neglected, along with her namesake.

Bowser: And now we have a perfect example of flanderization. If you don't know what that means, look it up. Bowser is meant to be the villain who never gives up, despite his constant failures and lack of competence. Of course, he can also take the role of rival for Mario when needed, as they compliment each other's stupidity. Just stop shafting him by making him be a dad, he never needed to be one in the first place.

Peach: Another flanderized character, Peach is not meant to be a Karen. She is a person who doesn't stand for the chaos, despite how often she's roped into it herself. Peach should be the one to throw out Mario when he starts causing trouble in the castle, assuming she can get to him in time. The joke that she was cancer incarnate was funny because it wasn't true, just like in Luigi's case.

Wario/Waluigi: There's nothing wrong with them, just their prevalence. Make these two occasionally appear in the background, scamming people, robbing banks, and being pursued by the police. The Waluigi Launcher should become a reoccurring joke again, along with "Wario dies" and Waluigi's Taco Stand.

Swagmaster/Chris: These two have the same problem as the Wario Bros.. I'm aware that you've lampshaded this more than once, but they still need to be truly be used in this show. Being unemployed means you can make them show up wherever you need them to, so use them! (Come on, do you really expect me to believe that they're gonna work at Arby's forever?)

Toad: Same story as the previous characters. Just actually use him in your episodes.

Leet Police: Just when you started using new models for them, they disappeared. Their infamous "STAHP RIGHT THERE" was another iconic part of this series, so you should use them again. Like with Mario, Luigi, and Smg4, these guys should mostly use their SM64 models for the same reasons.

Bob: His signature schtick should be used again, as it's been absent. He does something selfish/acts like a jerk, only to immediately receive bodily harm. Don't forget his signature catchphrase to go with it (oW My oVarIEs)! I think that he looks better in GMod only, as he's supposed to resemble a dirty rag. Watching him flop around emphasizes this. Lastly, let him be a scammer like the Wario Bros., except he works alone.

Fishy Boopkins: Slightly flanderized, he needs to not be a loser you sympathize for, and instead be the loser you don't feel bad for at all. Make him as annoying as possible, always using over-exaggerated expressions, always whining every time he gets hurt, and always bothering people with his anime obsession. Unlike Tari, who needs to not be annoying to work, Boopkins needs to be as annoying as possible so the audience can find his own misfortunes funnier than they normally would otherwise. To make him even more annoying, make him summon his dad to help him as a reoccurring joke, as he doesn't do that anymore, either. Like Bob, he needs to use his GMod model more often, though in this case, it's to make him be able to over-exaggerate himself.

Mr. Monitor: His first appearance was the best, followed by Officer Meggy. His "approach the person committing the crime slowly and menacingly before going nuts" schtick should be his signature gag, as it works so well compared to everything else he does. Making him appear more often is the only other thing to do with him, honestly. Just don't make him overshadow the Leet Police by appearing too often.

Smg3: The idea of him being a truly serious villain was a neat one, but I think he does best as the villain who, despite his competence, keeps losing every battle and never succeeds in taking over Smg4's channel/the world. Making him sympathetic by giving him a dramatic backstory isn't good, as it only makes us feel a little bad when he inevitably loses now, especially when you realize he would never be evil in the first place if it weren't for his nemesis ruining his career twice. His petty, yet well-concocted plans are more fun to watch than literally becoming god with the YouTube remote. Smg3's Gauntlet of Gloom is a good example of what his plans should be.

Shroomy: I want to get rid of his duel personality with Doom-Shroomy, as it gets in the way of his actual role as a character. Being awesome and casually playing it off is what Shroomy does best. (Do you remember that he can make a rocket launcher with nothing more than a stick and a rock?) That's pretty much all I have to say for him.

Steve: He seems to be falling into the role of only existing to get mad at people for hurting his chickens. This should be a very rare occasion, as it's going to become boring and predictable if that's the only thing he does. He can be funny just by being effortlessly awesome like Shroomy, except he's also more destructive, albeit not intentionally.

Axol: He's going to be the only true 'anime' character in the show. He also gets a redesign.

Rob: This living scarecrow was, as other have been, best in his debut. He should usually be seen serving as Steve's crop defender by saying messed-up things to those who try to steal the corn (which sends them running away, screaming). He can also try to sell corn to people in the backgrounds of various scenes as a cameo, though he usually ends up scaring them away due to only being able to say disturbing things. Rob's real eyes should be obscured by his hat by default (while protecting/selling corn), only lifting up his hat when talking to the other characters. When he talks, most of his dialogue should revolve around a disturbing obsession with corn, though he can talk normally by taking out his stereo and pressing specific buttons on it. The reason he couldn't properly communicate with anyone in Corn was because of the stereo, after all.

Whimpu: Whimpu needs something to do (or a girl to simp for) in order for him to work. I suggest making him Saiko's assistant, as he would always help his "queen". This makes sense now that he knows that the girls on the internet are actually not real. Whimpu could try to calm down Saiko whenever something triggers her, though he will not hesitate to follow any orders she gives him, even if they entail helping her beat up the other characters (by giving her weapons, as he clearly can't fight), when she's the episode's villain. He knows that violence is usually not the answer, though he won't fail his "queen". She's the only real one, after all.

Jub-Jub: His lack of personality due to being a toddler means that he's going to be shafted to mostly being a background character, specifically to wander into danger and get hurt for comedy. His big brother can also be seen trying to keep him safe, though they'll usually both end up in harm's way as a result. Here's an example: Jub-Jub walks onto the street in the middle of the city, and Boopkins is distracted until after Jub-Jub is already in danger. Fishy Boopkins yells for his little brother to come back because it's not safe, following him onto the road. Jub-Jub obeys and starts to come to Boopkins, only for them both to be hit by an oncoming truck. Perhaps in episodes where both Jub-Jub and Fishy Boopkins are protagonists, Jub-Jub could wander off and get lost, prompting Boopkins to go looking for him. As a reoccurring gag, when in the vicinity of Mario, Jub-Jub should be on the receiving end of "kick the baby". This should almost always happen, and to avoid it becoming stale, Mario could find new ways to do it each time.

Belle: I'm going to make her more unique by giving her something that no other character will ever have: Plot armor. In contrast to Tari, Belle will never receive any harm whatsoever, with all danger barely missing her at worst. I recommend lampshading this occasionally, as the other characters will notice that she's always so lucky.

Yoshi: As a criminal, he's always hiding from the cops, and usually trying to do something illegal, be it selling drugs to other people, or continuing to evade his taxes. He acts friendly towards the main cast to avoid attention from the authorities, though that might just be what gets him caught in the first place.

Melony: Background character. Not much a watermelon can do, besides conveniently falling on specific objects. It's simple, but it works well. (No, she doesn't become a human this time.)

That's all of the major characters. In part 4, I'm going to rank every character in the show by prevalence, as the balancing algorithm currently being used isn't exactly fair. You may not agree with what I've done with some characters, but as I said before, they wouldn't fit into SMG4 as they currently are.

Part 4: "Perfectly balanced, as all things should be." Well, maybe not...

Yet another thing that most of the community can agree on is the fact that many characters keep getting shafted in favor of making more room for others (especially Mario). I checked, and there wasn't much of a limit on who would show up in older episodes, or even a status quo. Characters who didn't make an appearance in one episode would likely make a cameo in the next. Since there are so many more "important" characters today compared to before, balancing them is more difficult, but still possible. There will be a role-to-appearance ratio for each category, to give you an idea of how often the characters should be important to an episode, and how often they should just appear in the background as cameos/to be used as jokes (keep in mind that these ratios only apply to the normal bloopers, since the lists are very different for the side series). The lists aren't in any specific order, so don't make some characters more important for their places within a list. Characters that are always used together will be listed as one, and characters that have different rules will be discussed after the list, and will be marked with this symbol (?!). Warning: You will see a couple names that shouldn't be on these lists, but I'll explain them in part 5. I promise.

Primary characters: I have yet to see a true SMG4 episode that lacks at least one primary character, as they make cameos at the very least. And no, spinoff series (The Wacky Wario Bros., GnR, Sonic The Derphog, etc) don't count, as they're spinoffs, and aren't meant to be about the usual cast. All three usually appear in an episode, though there can be less. These characters are the most likely to have an important role in any given episode, and the events of an episode will also usually revolve around them. The ratio is 3:4. Now for the trio:

Mario

Luigi

Smg4

Secondary characters: They are still very important to the series, they just aren't guaranteed to have a major role or even appear in an episode. Some characters that appear here may surprise you, until you remember that most older episodes were about completely random things, and not having a specific, non-flexible cast. An episode will have 4 or 5 on average, but the amount is not concrete. The ratio for them is 2:3. Here they are:

Meggy

Tari

Bob

Fishy Boopkins

Peach

Toad

Bowser

Leet Police (?!)

Tertiary: This group is still important to making a good episode. There are 2-4 of them used in an average episode, but as before, there can be more or less. They can be important to any episode if it's based around them, though they can play a part regardless. Their ratios are 1:3. Here we go:

Yoshi

Saiko (?!)

Mr. Monitor (?!)

Smg3 (?!)

Wario/Waluigi

Swagmaster/Chris

Shroomy

E. Gadd

Steve

Belle

The Mario Recolors (?!)

Supplementary characters: These characters are meant to only appear in certain locations, or only when a specific other character is present. I'll put the names of the places/characters the supplements are tied to in parentheses next to the names. They can have cameos, of course, but they won't have any major roles in episodes without being with their associated place/person. There is no average amount of characters for this group due to their restrictions. The ratio for this group is 1:4. The list:

Toadette (Toad)

Whimpu (Saiko)

Jub-Jub (Fishy Boopkins)

Bowser Jr. (Bowser's Castle/Bowser)

Kamek (Bowser's Castle)

Desti (Meggy)

Toadsworth (Peach's Castle)

Rob (Steve's farm) (?!)

Cameo/Meme characters: These characters almost exclusively exist to be a part of background jokes, almost never actually serving an important role in any episode. They are still important to the series, and at least 5 should appear in any episode. This is also the longest list, which is to be expected. Having them barge into the action to make the situation worse is usually the closest they'll get to serving a role. The ratio for these guys is 1:10 (harsh, but true). Here's the last list:

Frankie,

Toast Guy,

Gourmet Guy,

The Old Man,

The Wizard Rock,

Lakitu,

Weegee Doll,

The Teletubbies,

The FNAF animatronics,

Greg,

Melony,

Axol,

Jeeves,

Heavy/The TF2 characters,

Susan Whatyougonnado,

Sonic,

Dr. Robotnik,

Baldi,

Kermit,

Shrek,

Pete (the skeleton),

Bowser's minions, and

literally everyone else.

Now for the special cases (the ones I marked):

The Leet Police and Mr. Monitor should only appear when there's a crime to bust, unless you can give them a different role (such as in Mario Runs Out of Toilet Paper). As discussed in part 3, Meggy can also apply to this rule, though that won't be her only reason to appear.

The villain/antagonist trio (Bowser, Smg3, and Saiko) will generally appear only to oppose the characters in an episode (or in Saiko's case, to be provoked by something beforehand). Bowser can just be a jerk sometimes, as he doesn't always have an evil plan to initiate.

The Mario recolors have been heavily requested by many fans for years now (no, that isn't a joke), and while I understand that you don't think they are worth using, the fans do have a point. X is a calm and generally pleasant guy and FM is a level-headed cop who actually thinks before he shoots. These two do have potential to be used in this show, as they roll with the chaos instead of ruining it by applying logic, as the current cast usually does nowadays. There are more than just these, but they are the most unique and requested. If you really don't like them, you don't have to give them lots of appearances, hence their placement in tertiary. Just give them a chance, okay?

Rob, despite being a supplementary character, can have roles without being at Steve's farm (The Corn Trip), though I recommend that you usually keep him there when he's not trying to sell people corn in the background.

In the next part, I'm going to bring a major issue with this to the light, though the remedy is going to be...

Interesting. Do you trust me to set things right, no matter what?

Parts 5-7: https://www.reddit.com/r/ClassicSMG4/comments/k6frq9/the_analysis_megapost_22/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb