Bowser's Koopalings, originally named Bowser's Children, is an adult comedy drama web animated series created by FreezeFlame22.
The series focuses on King Bowser Koopa II, the king of the Koopa Kingdom, and his seven adopted kids; Larry, Wendy, Roy, Iggy, Morton, Lemmy, and Ludwig. The series showcases a mostly Dysfunctional Family given the personalities of the Koopalings and Bowser favouring his biological son, Prince Bowser Koopa (Bowser Jr.), as he pretends being nice and innocent when in reality he's anything but. Despite this, the Koopalings all deeply appreciate each other and their father, and the feeling is mutual. Season 5 also introduced Travis Hawke, who becomes Wendy's boyfriend and a staple character in the main cast.
Bowser's Koopalings is a Continuity Reboot of FreezeFlame22's 2013 series, The Koopa Kids, which had been Quietly Cancelled in 2016 due to Freeze no longer being proud of the work he had one with the series when he was younger, thus wanting to scrap the previously established lore and characters and start with a fresh new beginning for Bowser and his children.
The first episode was uploaded on YouTube on October 4th, 2017. It is currently on its seventh season.
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Bowser's Koopalings contains examples of:
Tropes A-L
- Adaptational Heroism: Bowser, and the Koopalings were Villains in the Mario continuity, but here, they stopped many Villains, and even once saved an entire kingdom.
- Adaptational Jerkass: Bowser Jr was a spoiled brat in the Mario games and The Koopa Kids, but in those he did care for Bowser and the Koopalings deep down. Here, he's a sociopath who couldn't care less about the Koopalings, and would happily kill them if given the chance. Also, unlike in the games, Junior's affection for his father is mostly superficial and he merely uses him to get what he wants.
- Adaptational Nice Guy:
- The Koopalings were mostly a gang of mischievous bratty kids in the Mario continuity, but here they have far more moments of kindness, Wendy and Larry in particular.
- They are also far nicer than they were in The Koopa Kids.
- Additonally, King Boo lacks the sadistic tendencies that his Luigi's Mansion counterpart had.
- Adopted into Royalty: All of the Koopalings were adopted by King Bowser Koopa II.
- Ascended Extra: Travis, who becomes a main character after his debut. In the season 6 finale, Bowser names him an honorary Koopaling.
- Eddie, Camilla, Ally, and Lauren have also became major supporting characters in modern seasons.
- Beauty, Brains, and Brawn: The Larry, Wendy, and Ludwig trio:
- Wendy is Beauty; she is usually concerned with her looks, especially when it's to impress her boyfriend, Travis, and is considered to be a Phoneaholic Teenager, especially in the older seasons.
- Ludwig is Brains; he is always occupied reading a novel and is shown to excel in anything History related as well as often being the Only Sane Man of the group.
- Larry is Brawn; While all the Koopalings can be good fighters, surprisingly, Larry has the most physical confrontation with others and is the Hair-Trigger Temper of the group. He can also beat someone up if they trigger his anger.
- Brainless Beauty: Ally is considered very attractive, but she's not very smart.
- Bratty Half-Pint: Bowser Jr. is an insufferable brat.
- Bumbling Dad: Bowser may not be the perfect father, but he tries his best.
- Catchphrase:
- Whomp King: "We build your houses, your castles, we pave your roads!"
- Ludwig: "Boo-bloody-hoo".
- Bowser Jr.: "Hello there, slaves".
- Cerebus Syndrome: Season 1-4 mostly consisted of light-hearted, comedic Slice of Life stories, with the exception of the Halloween episodes, and even than, those were still mostly comedic. However, after the season 4 finale introduced the shadows story arc, the coming seasons began having episodes tying back to the threat of the shadows and/or the 7 stars, which often had higher stakes, and emotion compared to earlier episodes. Even some of the recent regular episodes have more drama, alongside the comedy.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: The Elite Trio made their debuts in the episode "Iggy's New Pet", after which they made a couple of appearances before disappearing altogether, with their last appearance being "The Snow Brawl". They finally returned in season 7 after nearly five years of absence.
- Color-Coded Characters:
- Ludwig - Deep Blue
- Morton - Black
- Iggy - Lime Green
- Wendy - Pink
- Lemmy - Orange
- Roy - Purple
- Larry - Light Blue
- Continuity Reboot: As mentioned at the beginning of the page, Bowser's Koopalings is a reboot of Freeze's 2013 series The Koopa Kids, as he was no longer proud of the work he had done with the series and wanted to rewrite many of the characters and plotlines from scratch.
- Darker and Edgier:
- "It's A Not So Wonderful Life" has Ludwig get sent to a bad future, after telling Bowser he never wants to see him again. In this bad future, most of the Koopalings lives have gone to shit, such as Ludwig being a miserable hammock sailsman, Wendy being a struggling single mother, Iggy being a janitor who lost an eye in a lab accident, and Roy now being stuck in a wheelchair. Also, Bowser is revealed to have died the same year as Christmas in the present day, with junior now being a dictator like King, executing people for petty reasons. To make matters worse, Ludwig is straight up told that the bad future is his fault. While it has a heartwarming ending, the episode was a lot more dark, emotional, and depressing for the series at the time it was aired.
- "Ludwig's Dilemma" is easily one of most disturbing episodes Freeze has made. To start things off, the main villain Fawful is a Serial Killer who uses a gun to drain the life source out of people, and is later revealed to be using the power of the Green Star to execute a mass genocide on most of the Bohnenkraut Kingdom, leaving just the nobility. King Johann is also revealed to be in on Fawful's plan, and has killed his first four children as well as his wife. Ludwig is chased down the sewer, and ends up finding the many decomposed bodies of Johann and Fawful's victims, including his mother, which causes him to break down crying. While the Koopalings succeed in stopping the genocidal plan, Fawful ends up successfully using the oblivion canon to destroy kahar city, and Bowser is severely wounded trying to save Ludwig, and nearly dies. Thankfully, the green star ends up healing him.
- Dumb Muscle: Boom Boom.
- Dysfunctional Family: The Koopalings can get in alot of arguments with one another with Bowser being their alcoholic father who often favors Bowser Jr. over them. That said, Bowser at least tries his best and the Koopalings seem to love him regardless.
- Early-Installment Weirdness:
- Bowser seemed to be much more akin to an Abusive Dad in the early seasons who always favoured Bowser Jr. over the Koopalings. Over the years he became a Bumbling Dad that, while still favouring Bowser Jr., cares about the Koopalings just as much and is not prone to severly punishing them anymore. In fact, there are times in which he has told Bowser Jr. off for his obnoxious behaviour.
- Roy and Iggy are shown to be very close during the first two seasons. While they aren't exactly enemies in the more recent seasons, it would be a stretch to say that Roy and Iggy are close friends.
- The series originally took place in the Mushroom Kingdom and Bowser would often try to invade it in early episodes. Then the show's universe went through a Retcon and Bowser is now the ruler of the Koopa Kingdom. Additionally, the franchise's lore states that the Mushroom Kingdom was once a province of the Koopa Kingdom, but that acquired status as a commonwealth realm of sorts after Bowser and Peach's marriage, being an ally of the Koopa Kingdom.
- Early episodes were a bit more slice-of-life orientated, had a bigger emphasis on in family dynamics, and most of the storylines were rather common-place, such as a body swap. In later episodes, the stakes are raised up, there's more variety in the adventures the Koopalings would find themselves in, the Rogues Gallery is expanded, and they would even venture into locations way outside the Dark Valley, with one episode being centered around Lemmy and Morton going into outer space.
- The recurring cast is absent for the first three seasons of the series; Camilla, Lauren and Ally wouldn't be introduced until season 4, Travis, Eddie and the McQueen family didn't show up until season 5, and Ember and Jade were only added in season 7. Likewise, the first three seasons lacked the looming threat that Edgar Kallidus and the Shadows are, and Tyson, Bowser's villanous second cousin, was only introduced in season 4.
- Floating Timeline: As of season 7, the Koopalings are all 16-17 (most specifically, Ludwig, Morton, Iggy, Travis and Wendy are 17 while Lemmy, Roy and Larry are 16), while for the first six seasons they were consistently aged 15-16. Meanwhile, Bowser is explicitly stated to have been born in 1970, which would make him 47 at the start of the series, as season 1 is confirmed to take place in 2017. Bowser Jr. on the other hand was eight years old for most of the series, but turned nine in the fifth season, and as of season 7, he is confirmed to be ten years old. Christmas has also been celebrated many more times than in Carl, and the "Time Travel Trouble" episodes confirm that time does indeed pass, as the present-day in the first episode is 2019, but 2020 in the second and third episodes.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Bowser's kids are either responsible or foolish.
- Wendy, Iggy, and Ludwig are shown to actually be responsible and mature.
- Larry, Roy, Lemmy and Morton are often seen as being immature and foolish.
- Hate Sink: Camilla has always been an unpleasant girl who thinks she is above everyone, but her really bad side didn't emerge until she tricked Wendy, someone who considered her one of her best friends, to eat a lot of food so she can gain weight so that Travis would dump her out of disgust and start dating her instead of Wendy. Think that's not bad enough? Well, she later starts pulling nasty pranks on Wendy in an attempt to get her to break up with Travis, such as putting a poisonous snake in the castle's bathroom and stealing all of Wendy's possessions while she's asleep andselling them all online. Once Travis finds out about what Camilla has done, he is absolutely disgusted and decides that he doesn't want anything to do with her.
- Interspecies Romance: Bowser, a dragon Koopa, married Peach, a human.
- Like Brother and Sister: Larry and Wendy have a very similar relationship to this, despite being adopted siblings.
- Love Triangle: A short-lived one occurred with Wendy, Travis and Camilla, which was even the focus of a main episode. Travis wanted to ask Wendy out, but Camilla kept getting in their way in hopes of dating Travis herself. When Travis ends up choosing Wendy, Camilla tries to trick Wendy into becoming overweight so that Travis will dump her out of disgust and she can have him all to herself. When Wendy learns about this, she shaves off Camilla's hair while she's asleep in Revenge. Wendy and Travis then become a couple, and Camilla is shown to resent Wendy for both "stealing" Travis and her hair. Later on, Travis realizes how much of a horrible person Camilla is, rendering her chances of dating him non-existant.
Tropes M-V
- Missing Mom: The Koopalings' adoptive mother, Princess Peach, is nowhere to be seen. "The Heist" reveals that Peach went missing in an airship crash when the Koopalings were around six years old and was assumed to have died as a result.
- Named After Somebody Famous: Like all the Koopalings sans Larry, there are also a few characters named after musicians: Camilla, Lauren, and Ally are named after 3 members from Fifth Harmony (Camila Cabello, Lauren Jauregui, and Ally Brooke respectively). Travis is named after Travis Scott, and Eddie is named after Eddie Van Halen. Also, the royal advisors of the Marine Kingdom in "Summer Vacation", Ozuna and Anuel, are named after Reggaeton singers Ozuna and Anuel AA.
- Nice, Mean, and In-Between:
- The Larry, Wendy, and Ludwig trio follow this trope. Larry is the nice one, as he's shown to be the nicest Koopaling, doesn't tend to make fun of people, and loves to have fun, Ludwig is the mean one, as he's shown to be selfish, often looks down upon his siblings and likes to think he's better than all of them, and even makes fun of them at times, and Wendy is in-between as she sometimes tends to mock others and call people names at times, but still has a good heart and she's also the more sane Koopaling.
- Wendy's friends: Camilla is a spoiled Rich Bitch who only uses people for her own benefit, Ally is a very nice person, if a bit of an airhead, while Lauren is somehwere in the middle.
- Bowser's group of friends. King Boo is the nice one, being mellow and rarely ever losing his cool, King Dedede is the mean, as he tends to be insufferable and greedy, and King K. Rool is the in-between, being a cynic with an attitude, but also having a Hidden Heart of Gold.
- Official Couple: There are a few:
- Morton and Ally got together in season 4, and while Ally is known to hook up with other guys, Morton doesn't seem to mind.
- Wendy and Travis got together in season 5 and have been together ever since, much to Camilla's frustration.
- After being Forced Out of the Closet in season 5, Lemmy develops a liking towards Eddie, and the feeling is mutual, only that Eddie is embarrassed about his sexuality.
- Larry develops feelings for Lauren in season 7, and the two soon start a relationship after Larry learns to just be himself around her.
- Replacement Scrappy: A. Byzmal is seen as one to K. Rool In-Universe, as K. Rool left the Koopa Kingdom in order to run the K. Rool Incorporated warehouse in Kongo Island and A. Byzmal took over his role as the manager of the Bass Station in Dark Valley. Many people openly tell A. Byzmal that they hate him and that K. Rool was way better than him.
- Rich Bitch: Camilla.
- Running Gag:Wendy: #WhateverIsHappeningAtTheMoment
- Whomp King's lecture about how the Whomps like him all build people's houses, castles, and pave their roads whenever they make him angry.
- If a random bystander is going to get hurt or killed for the sake of Slapstick, it's always going to be a random Goomba.
- Lucy and Courtney will always refer to Roy using the names of male Fire Emblem characters. This is because both the Super Mario Bros. and Fire Emblem franchises have a character named "Roy".
- Sibling Team: The Koopalings are always seen working together in many episodes.
- The Sixth Ranger: As of season six finale, Travis has been officially named an honorary Koopaling, thus becoming the eight one.
- The Smurfette Principle: Out of the Koopalings (A.K.A the main characters), Wendy is the only girl. Heck, she's the only girl in the whole family. She was also the only prominent female character in the whole series until the debuts of Camilla, Lauren and Ally.
- Spoiled Brat:
- Bowser Jr. If only he was just a brat and not a complete sociopath on top of it...
- Camilla. Growing up in an upper class family with parents who'd always let everything she do slide caused her to believe that everyone else is beneath her and that the world revolves around her.
- Straight Gay: Lemmy was revealed to be gay in "The Love Potion", despite not showing any stereotypically gay traits. A few episodes later he began a relationship with Lauren's brother Eddie.
- Synthetic Voice Actor: The voices of the Fawful Drones are provided by text-to-speech voices (specifically, Microsoft Sam, Microsoft Mike, and Speakonia Male 2).
- Those Two Guys:
- Big Bob-Omb and Whomp King.
- Lucy and Courtney.
- The Un-Favourite: All of the Koopalings in the early seasons. While Bowser still favours Bowser Jr. a bit more over the Koopalings in more recent episodes, he cares about the Koopalings just as much as him.
- Verbal Tic: Ludwig and Bowser Jr. use the word "bloody" in many of their sentences.
- Villain Protagonist: Bowser and the Koopalings, usually seen as the villains in the Mario Franchise, are viewed as the protagonists. Justified given that the FreezeFlame22 Universe has nothing to do with the Mario canon other than the characters, and Bowser is the ruler of the Koopa Kingdom and not an evil character.
- Your Mom: Twice.
- In "Wendy vs. Camilia" Camilla taunts Wendy by bringing up Peach and how she went missing in an Airship Crash, which causes Wendy to get in a fight with her. When Wendy tells Bowser that Camilla brought up Peach's demise, Bowser goes out of his way to get Camilla's parents to ground her and make her stop.
- In "Goom-Banned" Bully insults Bowser, unaware that he is talking to the King, by telling him that he had sex with his mother. Bowser does not take too kindly Bully insulting his late mother.
- World of Snark: Here in Dark Valley, most of the characters go out of their way to be a smartass or useless.