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No. 680: Prat(t)fall in the Family

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Prat(t)fall in the Family

First | Previous | 2023-04-01 | Next | Latest

Permanent URL: https://mezzacotta.net/itoons/?comic=680

Strip by: RassilonTDavros

Mario: Okay, who's-a next? Any new challengers?
SFX: BOOM
{A pair of boots hit the floor.}
Mario: Wha-!?
Chris Pratt: It is me. Mario.
SFX: WHOOOOSH
{A photograph of Chris Pratt's face, uncannily perched atop a cartoon body, races towards Mario at maximum speed.}
SFX: POW
{The Pratt abomination punches Mario, sending him flying off the stage, ending the Smash match.}
{Pratt stands on his victory screen.}
Smash Announcer: This Game's Winner is... Mario!!
{WiiU game boxes for "Super Mario Galaxy 3," "Mario & Luigi: Brothers in Arms," and "Mario Party 10," all with Pratt in place of Mario. On the "Galaxy 3" cover, Yoshi sees nothing amiss. Luigi seems unnerved by his ersatz brother on the "Brothers in Arms" cover, but by "Mario Party 10" the replacement process is fully complete, with Luigi no longer any the wiser, laughing it up with Wario and Princess Peach like old friends.}
{Pratt and Peach are getting married.}
Peach: I do!
{Chris Pratt sits on the Mushroom Kingdom throne, wearing the crown and holding a royal scepter, flanked by two Toad guards with spears. The Princess is nowhere to be seen, her fate unknown; Chris rules alone as King with an iron fist, all while not changing his expression once.}
{A close-up of Pratt's face, rendered in the very best faux crosshatching my decade-old version of Photoshop can muster. His face moves not a single muscle as he gazes out of the panel, staring down the reader, as if to invite them into the endless abyss...}

The author writes:

Chris Pratt's casting in the lead role of The Super Mario Bros. Movie is old news at this point, but after remembering the Brawl in the Family strip where a Mii Fighter of Mario takes over Mario's life a couple days ago I immediately knew I had to make this anyway. I don't think his performance will kill the film completely, but it's definitely going to be one of those movies that I like in spite of the main character rather than because of them. I hate to accuse actors of not putting in effort, but it's hard for me to listen to Pratt's performance in the trailers and not think he's just doing it for a paycheck. (Jack Black's Bowser, on the other hand, brings me life.) The title uses "Pratfall" because I wanted a word that would reference the casting, and one that would have a negative connotation... and one that would rhyme with "Brawl." Bit of a stretch, but it was the best I could come up with. This strip's transcript gradually evolved into a mini-short story as I wrote it out. The two SRoMG strips I did years ago (1856 and 3440) were largely straightforward gags, and only three panels each, so the transcriptions were straightforward. Here, there were more panels, and more non-dialogue-driven panels, so I felt the transcript needed to be a bit more "fleshed out" to adequately convey the narrative. The transcribing process also helped me notice that I'd accidentally covered up the ellipsis in Panel 6 with Pratt's hair, so I moved the ellipsis up a bit to compensate.

Original Brawl in the Family strip: Mii...? (2014-07-10).