Drew Mackie

@drewgmackie

“Make way for Superman!” said Superman as he punched everyone at the Coffee Bean. He/him. Los Angeles. Dog. Mustache. Gayest Episode Ever: Thrilling Tales of Old Video Games:

1,448 Following7,871 Followers4,470 Posts

YouTube YouTube Bluesky

gay

Is this your profile?Claim it and drewgmackie.dirty.social is yours.Claim profile

Drew Mackie@drewgmackie· 26d

A classic bit of Mario lore: The sprites in SMB2 look better than the ones in SMB3 because they were made *after* SMB3's. While SMB3 was in development in Japan, Nintendo decided to give the west a different SMB2. SMB3's sprites were modified for SMB2w. more: thrillingtalesofoldvideogames.com/m4#54

Drew Mackie@drewgmackie· 27d

One benefit to doing my Mario 101 project? Now I've got a handy link to give to anyone who claims that mushroom imagery in the Mario games is related to psilocybin. It's not. Stop telling people that. more: thrillingtalesofoldvideogames.com/m4#47

Amanita muscaria mushrooms appearing in an mid-century Christmas card illustrations, no psychelia intended.

Drew Mackie@drewgmackie· 27d

Never change, baseball player names www.baseballamerica.com/players/6762...

Drew Mackie@drewgmackie· 28d

Sometimes you're writing about Sonic and you want to find a high-quality gif of the title screen but you actually can't find one and so you build it from scratch only to realize that it's more complicated than you expected and then you're like "oh, maybe that's why nobody else did this." Whatever.

Drew Mackie@drewgmackie· 29d

Shoot, I will take it. www.thrillingtalesofoldvideogames.com/blog/mallow-...

Some outlets have noted how some key aspects were removed from Mallow from the Japanese version in the English translation, with critics arguing that these aspects detracted from Mallow's overall character and humour. Writer Drew Mackie commented that whilst on a surface level Mallow's name is likely based on marshmallows which matches his soft and white design, he also noted how mallows are also a genus of plant most commonly associated with both the confectionary as well as the plant Althaea officinalis, which is used to make the former. He explained how the plant originated from marshes and swamps in Ancient Egypt and over history was brought to countries such as Iran and France to be created into halva and "pâte de guimauve" (marshmallow paste) respectively, which were close to modern day marshmallows; Mackie argued that this history reflected Mallow's adventure from the marshy Tadpole Pond to "to a fanciful kingdom in the clouds." However, Mackie believed that Mallow's Japanese name, Maro (マロ), had a funnier and more suitable name to fit his character. He analysed that the name Maro was very close to Mario's name, which he noted was a similar circumstance to Mario's first partner in Paper Mario, Goombario. Mackie observed that whilst not similar in appearance, Mallow was like a lesser Mario where he was not a famous nor capable, adding that his name was "a little like Mario but also a little lacking", but instead through his character arc learns to be a hero in his own way. He furthered the comparison by adding that in Japanese, Nimbus Land is called "Marshmallow Kingdom", which he believe was intentionally chosen as its sound similar to the Mushroom Kingdom, the land which Mario is considered the hero of. Mackie concluded that whilst maybe not as cool as Geno in design, Mallow "pack[ed] a lot of linguistic intrigue into that squat, puffy frame."

Drew Mackie@drewgmackie· Jul 12

Drew Mackie@drewgmackie· Jul 12

Not at all ashamed that I spent part of my Sunday morning making this. Also? I’d like to think he would have got the reference.

Drew Mackie@drewgmackie· Jul 12

Asking for art project reasons: Who is the guy standing behind Mitch McConnell in this photo?

Drew Mackie@drewgmackie· Jul 11

Shigeru Miyamoto never explicitly said mushrooms make Mario grow because of Alice in Wonderland... yet Alice is the only cultural precedent for this. What gives? Hit the link for four different interviews where Miyamoto talks around a Mario/Alice connection. thrillingtalesofoldvideogames.com/m4#46

Left: SMB2 illustration of Mario growing/shrinking. Right: Screengrab from Disney Alice in Wonderland wherein Alice contemplates the two sides of an edible mushroom, one that makes her taller and one that makes her shorter.

Drew Mackie@drewgmackie· Jul 10

Life — in Los Angeles, in 2026, as documented by NextDoor

text of a random NextDoor post:

Bonnie Tyler passed this morning now my heart is broken 😭💔 we lost a legend.

If you’re on the Starbucks on Vermont and 2nd be careful. Allegedly, there’s a customer threatening an employee with a gun

Drew Mackie@drewgmackie· Jul 10

Yay for Patricia but this is a gay emergency

The seven nominees for 2026 Emmy for supporting actress in a comedy

Drew Mackie@drewgmackie· Jul 8

ICYMI, after this post went up, I stumbled across concept art for a nixed Super Mario RPG baddie, "Jackson Joker." I'm not saying this proves me 100 percent correct, but it does support my theory for the card suits motif.

Jiro Mifune sketch for Jackson Joker, who was an initial concept for a bad (if not THE big bad) in an early version of Super Mario RPG. The star pattern on his outfit and the fact that he is an evil joker character make me think my guesses for the remaining card suits in the game are correct.

Drew Mackie@drewgmackie· Jul 7

Iconic

Manga panel showing Princess Peach pushing a Ninji to his death

Drew Mackie@drewgmackie· Jul 5

Believe it or not, this is for a post about a video game thing. In looking up the history of playing cards, however, I realized I knew very little about their history.

Most of the English-speaking world apparently uses the deck popularized by the French and dating back to 1480. The four French suits correspond directly to the ones known to English-speakers: trèfles (literally “clovers”) corresponds to our clubs; carreaux (literally “squares” or “tiles”) corresponds to our diamonds; piques (literally “pikes”) corresponds to our spades; and finally cœurs corresponds to “hearts” because that’s just what it means. However, this deck was adapted from a German one that’s still widely used today and which dates back to the 1400s. The oddly Animal Crossing-esque German suits are acorns, bells, leaves and hearts, corresponding to our clubs, diamonds, spades and hearts, in that order. And this deck was based on one used in Italy and Spain as far back as the 1370s. The so-called Latin deck’s suits — clubs, coins, swords and cups, again corresponding to our suits, in the same order — are also those appearing in the Tarot deck, with clubs becoming wands and coins becoming pentacles. The fact that the English deck calls its clover-looking suit a club suggests some cross-contamination happening along the way, with the name of reverting to its original form for no reason that I could find in my research. Italy and Spain seem to have adapted their decks from one used in Egypt during the period in which it was ruled by the Mamluk Sultanate, from about 1250 to 1517. Its four suits are polo sticks, coins, swords and cups. It’s possible that this was adapted from a Chinese card system that uses four money-based suits: coins, strings (of coins), myriads (of strings) and tens (of myriads). According to a 2002 article appearing in The Playing-Card, a quarterly publication that I can’t seem to access online, it’s possible that the Chinese character for ten was interpreted by someone as a sword and the character for myriad, when inverted, might have resembled a cup, although I’m not clear where between China and Egypt that’s supposed to have happened.

Drew Mackie@drewgmackie· Jul 4

She looks like Dr. Girlfriend from Venture Bros.

Dr. Girlfriend’s butterfly-themed costume from Venture Bros

Drew Mackie@drewgmackie· Jul 3

Some people might say that a Christmas episode of Freddy’s Nightmares is not an appropriate forum for having a discussion about fears of nuclear war. Fortunately, none of those people were around for the production of this TV series.

Drew Mackie@drewgmackie· Jul 3

I got new cushions for the furniture on the back deck, so now I am enjoying them before the squirrels get their filthy disgusting paws all over them.

Drew Mackie@drewgmackie· Jul 2

One of the most common Super Mario misconceptions is that you're killing innocent Toads by smashing bricks, but the manual makes it very clear this is not the case. The transformed toads are the non-smashable blocks that give you coins and power-ups. more: thrillingtalesofoldvideogames.com/m4#48

Page from the original English manual for Super Mario Bros. that makes it clear that Mario is not killing innocent Toads when he smashes bricks.

Drew Mackie@drewgmackie· Jul 2

For Gayest Episode Ever's final discussion of The Simpsons — ever! — I asked Ian to draw sexy Ned Flanders in the style of Marlon Brando. Listen: www.gayestepisodeever.com/episodes/str... But also look.

Art by Ian O'Phelan of ripped Ned Flanders posing like Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire.

Drew Mackie@drewgmackie· Jun 30

A preview of coming attractions

Cut scene from Samurai Shodown teasing the game's big bad. Dialogue: "I AWAKE FROM 100 YEARS OF SLEEP TO KICK SOME BUTT!"

Drew Mackie@drewgmackie· Jun 29

Genuinely amused that the previous @stillloadingpodcast.com has podcast legend Matt Gourley and this one has… me. But it’s a good listen, I promise! www.stillloadingpodcast.com/podcast

Episode graphic from the Still Loading podcast

Drew Mackie@drewgmackie· Jun 29

Finally, a realistic depiction of journalism in video games snk.fandom.com/wiki/Art_of_...

Screengrab of the description for Lenny Creston, an Art of Fighting 3 character who is apparently a journalist despite dressing like Kelly Bundy and wielding a whip

Drew Mackie@drewgmackie· Jun 28

I did not plan to take a family picture today, but this is, for the record, how we will spend the summer.

The author with the two executors of his will

Drew Mackie@drewgmackie· Jun 27

Do you remember the Muppet Babies where the babies think they’ve discovered an alien? And name her Irma? But it turns out Irma is actually a koala that escaped from the zoo? (spoilers?) It’s remarkable the babies survived, given how mean koalas are. The authorities should have shut Nanny down.

Drew Mackie@drewgmackie· Jun 26

The original SMB dungeon firebars were actually designed for Legend of Zelda — and ultimately returned to that series in Link to the Past. It's the first instance of give and take between Mario and Zelda, even today, when Zelda skews more "serious." more: thrillingtalesofoldvideogames.com/m3#44

Drew Mackie@drewgmackie· Jun 25

Gather round and listen to the story of the least successful Mario character ever, a girl named Potato Also listen to my whole Nintendo Cartridge Society ep: pod.link/1163990138/e...

Drew Mackie@drewgmackie· Jun 25

Want to hear me talking deep Super Mario lore with the boys of Nintendo Cartridge Society for 80 minutes? Hey, listen: pod.link/1163990138/e...

Drew Mackie@drewgmackie· Jun 25

The name of this Witch Hat Atelier character is… Uriney?

The weakling boy character from Witch Hat Atelier

Drew Mackie@drewgmackie· Jun 24

We’ve got a ridealong

Drew Mackie@drewgmackie· Jun 24

He found the entrance to one of the hidden dungeons and is set for a day of harrowing adventure