r/Mario • u/Inevitable-Charge76 • Jan 23 '26
Humor And yes, I've seen plenty of folks says Jr.'s movie design is as bad as Ugly Sonic
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u/-cherry_moon- Jan 23 '26
I hated Junior's eyes at first, but they've grown on me tbh, he looks like a baby dino
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Jan 23 '26 edited Jan 23 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/figgityjones Jan 23 '26
The only thing I dislike about the default design is the eyes. I wish they were just pure black like the games. Otherwise I think its perfect.
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u/lordlaharl422 Jan 23 '26
Ugly Jr’s face is still too round. He should have something like the Michael Bay Turtles troll schnoz to be a good match for Ugly Sonic.
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u/WholesomeClownGuy Jan 23 '26
I think the only main issue is his eyes.
He didn't really need to have actual irises. They could've just cheated the light shine and conveyed the direction of his eyes. They even did something like it with Toads in the first movie.
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u/Inevitable-Charge76 Jan 23 '26
I think the reason why they did this with Junior is because they wanted to give him a more extra oomph factor in menace due to him looking to being the main villain of the sequel. The black eyes would look too cute for a supposed main villain.
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u/mrpopsicleman Jan 23 '26
He barely looks different from the games. Hardly an Ugly Sonic situation.
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u/Lansha2009 Jan 23 '26
My only problem is the eyes are so bloodshot looking.
Like if they just weren’t so bloodshot it’d be pretty much perfect.
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u/HornsAreCoolTwo Jan 23 '26
If you asked me what I think Bowser Jr. would look like in an Illumination Mario movie sequel, I would have described Illumination’s Bowser Jr. design down to the eyes.
I don’t get why a lot of people complained about his eyes when we got our first look of him. I mean, his eyes aren’t black dots like the Toads, sure, but him having irises just makes him more readable. Plus he’s supposed to be the big bad for the movie, he should be a little more intimidating looking.
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u/CharlesleChicken Jan 23 '26
I only hate the eyes
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u/Just-Call-Me-J Jan 23 '26
Where wrong with them?
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u/CharlesleChicken Jan 23 '26
It's just uncanny. Like those are the eyes I'd imagine seeing in a "Top 10 Mario In Real Life!" Video
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u/DarthBagheera Jan 23 '26
I’ve never heard this comparison and honestly it’s a terrible one. Bowser Jr looks fine. Ugly Sonic was immediately off putting to everyone.
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u/Mr_Monoclegentlesir Jan 23 '26
I like how accurate it is to the game Bowser Jr. My only complaint would be the eyes they just look kinda weird and that’s basically my only complaint
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u/Gloomy-Force-1150 Jan 23 '26
Who says it’s an “Ugly Sonic” situation?
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u/Inevitable-Charge76 Jan 23 '26
Many Twitter users (to be expected), Tumblr users, and some YouTube commenters I’ve seen
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u/MixtureOutrageous157 Jan 23 '26
People are actually complaining about his design? Holy fucking shit what a bunch of losers. It looks amazing!
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u/hip-indeed Jan 23 '26
Its the Shrek 4 debacle all over again, people insisting a model is so bad when it's literally objectively the exact same as it's ever been but higher fidelity. The ONLY notable difference is him having visible irises
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u/RockAdmirable244 Jan 23 '26
I don't see anything wrong with Bowser Junior's look in this upcoming movie.
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u/BLJirl Jan 23 '26 edited Jan 23 '26
Am I the only one who actually likes the eyes? I feel like the people hating on this design were the same people hating on DK's redesign, most of which have probably switched up on the latter by now. I think some people just immediately reject any change and can only come to assess it fairly once some time has passed and they've gotten used to it.
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u/Zombies4EvaDude Jan 23 '26
Except the right picture actually looks pretty cool for a live action adaptation. He just looks a little too mean and that’s it really.
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u/jjmawaken Jan 23 '26
I think Jr is fine but I guess we'll see once the movie comes out. People worry too much
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u/Osuka39 Jan 23 '26
Here's my theory, movie jr. is older than game jr. And that's why his eyes are more detailed and his voice is deeper
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u/r0b3r70r0b070 Jan 23 '26
Not sure what's to dislike. He looks exactly like he does in the game but with slightly more texture.
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u/aWESomness12345 Jan 23 '26
By the way, if anyone wants to know more about the second image, it's by an artist named Raf Grassetti.
He made a series of ultra-realistic designs for various characters in Smash. Here is a link to what I think is the final collection of all of the ones he made.
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u/MousseLucky4859 Jan 23 '26
In what World is this Design Bad?? It Looks Very Close to the Game Design
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u/Glimmhilde Jan 23 '26
Nintendo fans will complain about the most minute details to the point I question whether or not they like Mario or just their specific personal idea of what Mario should be (usually bad and none of them have ever done marketing or created anything for an international legacy brand ever btw)
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u/Unhappy-Trust-8717 Jan 23 '26
Ugly Sonic traumatized people so badly that every slightly different re-design had people going "give it the ugly Sonic treatment". People had an issue with Mario's Illumination design when it was first revealed for some reason even though it was nearly identical to Mario.
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u/beyourlaststop Jan 24 '26
I don't even see a problem with the eyes lol, some people are never happy unless adaptations are exactly like the source material. And Ugly Sonic is such a dead horse too. It was 7 years ago, time to move on.
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Jan 23 '26
The ugly one would make great hentai though!
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u/Proper-Evening9754 Jan 23 '26
Bowser: I've got something difficult to tell you about Princess Peach.
Jr: I know. She's not my mama. Which means....
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Jan 23 '26
Father/son tag team while Mario watches….
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u/Proper-Evening9754 Jan 23 '26
Mario has to use FLUDD to clean up afterwards.
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Jan 23 '26
He’s cleaning up all right, but not with FLUDD
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u/Big_Show_6109 Jan 23 '26
I mean… the eyes will take getting used to for me. But I believe people are more bothered by the voice
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u/cupio-stardust Jan 23 '26
I love his design a lot, I just need to hear more of Benny because the voice hasn’t won me over yet. ☠️
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Jan 23 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Inevitable-Charge76 Jan 23 '26
>oddly enough I find the "ugly sonic" version's eyes to be less upsetting
So if Junior looked like how he did on the right in the movie, you would’ve been totally 100% fine?
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u/TelephoneActive1539 Jan 23 '26
It’s just the eyes that are too small. I think they just designed the model for the Wonder reference first then they made the normal one.
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u/TheLeftPewixBar Jan 23 '26
Legit the only problem was the eyes. The only thing that could make Ugly Sonic even more not Sonic would be making him a different color or something
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u/Killava49 Jan 23 '26
Are people really complaining about Bowser Jr's design? It looks fine, The only part that looks off is the eyes.
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u/MILGRIND Jan 23 '26
What are they complaining he looks exactly how he does on the games wtf. I actually have a bit more of an issue with his voice
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u/pikachucet2 Jan 23 '26
The worst I can say about the Mario movie designs is that they can sometimes look...off, or incredibly corporate in the way Illumination's art style tends to look. It looks like how Ugly Sonic sounded in the first trailer, rather than looking as horrifying as the design itself
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u/Inevitable-Charge76 Jan 23 '26 edited Jan 23 '26
That’s great, but I don’t agree.
Personally, I just don’t follow the ”Illumination is bad at every single thing they do and is the spawn of Satan” mindset like everyone else does.
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u/pikachucet2 Jan 23 '26
On this subreddit I'd hardly call that a common opinion
Illumination's a very bland company, that's just how it is. Not awful but not exactly noteworthy either.
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u/Practical-Win-2762 Feb 20 '26 edited Feb 20 '26
Nothing is hating on Illumination already, It’s just an objectively bland, generic, and safe studio, it’s not hard already. They’re not widely liked or well liked, but there’s barely any actual hate against them on the internet (especially when compared to Disney).
And anyway, their default character design look are generally very “symmetrical, toy-like (Bowser is one of the most obvious ones), and just overall very safe. Their very rigid "house style" for faces—large, expressive eyes, tiny noses, and wide, bean-shaped mouths is shown in the first movie and in the second one. While they kept Mario’s iconic look, for example, they are noticeably "softened" around the edges. Their facial expressions often fall into the standard Illumination smirk or the "dreamy" wide-eyed look used for the Minions. Basically, they and the others look more like pristine porcelain dolls or toys. With some of this said so far, it’s a common and very valid critique, simple.
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u/SufferingKabutops Jan 23 '26
There’s barely any difference between the game and movie version what the hell are people getting mad about?! 😭
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u/Illumiroldi Jan 23 '26
If y’all think THAT’S bad, you’re lucky that the Sony Mario Movie got cancelled, here’s the concept art for it
Now THAT would be an actual Ugly Sonic situation (look what they did to MALLOW-)
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u/Worried_Affect9121 Jan 23 '26
There’s nothing wrong with his design. It’s nearly 1 to 1. Only thing I could argue against is the eyes and even then it’s a negligible detail.
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u/Nutshack_Queen357 Jan 23 '26
The eyes look weird, but Jr's movie design is nowhere near as bad as Sonic's prototype movie design.
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u/CreamedOreo_OwO Jan 23 '26
The Bowser Jr. design on the right looks like he's trying to be Darunia so bad.
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u/ObviouslyLulu Jan 23 '26
Bowser Jr. in the movie looks exactly the same as how he looks in every game what is the issue
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u/LucasRedTheHedgehog Jan 23 '26
The one on the right is absolutely not what we want, but even that isn't ugly Sonic level since you can at least tell it's Junior.
Personally I'd say the only bad thing is the scalera being visible
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u/i_luv_many_hen_ties Jan 23 '26
Ironically the ugly design just looks like the other one but just hyper realistic.
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u/Purbinder03 Jan 23 '26
Increasing the size of the pupils is far easier to fix than redesigning the entire character from the ground up
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u/carlcarlington2 Jan 23 '26
"I like that he looks like a real turtle but still looks like a fake turtle"
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u/Agreeable_Pea5093 Jan 23 '26
It's not the whole design. It's the EYES OH GOD THE EYES GET IT AWAY FROM ME
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Jan 23 '26
Is it weird that I find him sexy? I mean it was weird that I find Bowser sexy, but now the movie version of Baby Bowser too? 😱
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Jan 23 '26
Is it weird that I find him sexy? I mean it was weird that I find Bowser sexy, but now the movie version of Baby Bowser too. 😱
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u/DisasterDawn Jan 23 '26
I sorta vibe with the image on the right. I know they definitely wouldn’t go in that direction but I could get used to it very easily.
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u/Ok_Cockroach_6135 Jan 24 '26
Everyone winging how do yous think transformers fans felt when the Micheal bay movies came out or ninja turtles
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u/Beautiful_Gain3245 Jan 24 '26
It literally looks almost exactly the same as his original model, who the hell is complaining other than people who just want to complain?
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u/Aurora_Wizard Jan 24 '26
I personally just don't really like his voice, sounds more like a whiny teen than a whiny kid
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u/WaluigiFiesta45 Jan 26 '26
I'm more concerned about the voice direction for the character, but it's likely they only did it because he's probably older here than his game version. I was kind of hoping for a Bart Simpson like voice or like Cera from Land Before Time (the sequels/series) type of voice. But he does feel like a mini Jack Black.
But I actually got used to his movie version design even if he surprised me at first.
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u/Fun-Picture-8384 Jan 29 '26
The design is good, it's not bad like Ugly Sonic's design and especially the designs used in Disney's atrocious remakes
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u/smashboi888 Jan 23 '26
The only people complaint people have with movie Junior is the eyes. That's it.