Lunar Observer

April 1st is International Waluigi Day, for some reason

The absurd character has a cultish fanbase and a holiday all to himself.

Lunar Observer

April 1st is International Waluigi Day, for some reason

The absurd character has a cultish fanbase and a holiday all to himself.
Lunar Observer

April 1st is International Waluigi Day, for some reason

The absurd character has a cultish fanbase and a holiday all to himself.

Lunar Observer records upcoming dates of interest: holidays, birthdays, best day to cut hair.

I don't know why this is, other than popular sentiment, which is as good a reason as any: April 1 is Waluigi Day. Be prepared.

Waluigi is a character from the Mario video game franchise — he's the evil version of Mario's brother, Luigi, and he operates in tandem with the evil version of Mario, who is of course Wario. To understand Waluigi, we must look at these four characters in relation.

Mario is the hero and main character, as blank a character as possible while still being plucky, a seeming underdog but clearly very strong and confident. His color is red, the color of bravery.

Luigi is Mario's brother, and by virtue of the group name “Mario Brothers,” we can infer that his full name is “Luigi Mario.” He is the perennial player 2 — if you're playing with a buddy, and you're at your buddy's house, your buddy is Mario, and you are Luigi. He is a little taller and a little skinnier than Mario. His color is green, the color of abundance.

Wario is the enemy of both brothers, and looks like a stouter Mario. He is strong but a little clumsy, bordering on bumbling. If Mario can be thought of as lucky, Wario is luckless. His name derives from the Japanese word “warui,” meaning bad, poor, hateful, or abominable. To an English audience, his name has a clear association with war, which is the blistering shame of all humanity. His color is yellow, the color of gold, sickness, and jealousy.

Waluigi is friends with Wario but they are not brothers. According to Charles Martinet, who provides the voice of Wario and Waluigi, they are “just two nice evil guys that found each other.” He is much taller and much skinnier than Luigi, and whereas the other characters have bushy friendly mustaches, Waluigi's mustache is thin and pointy like a weapon. Like Wario, Waluigi's name derives from “warui,” “bad,” utilizing the lack of distinction between L and R sounds in Japanese. But it's also a syllabic reverse of the word “ijiwaru” which means “ill-tempered” or “sadistic.” Unfortunately, to an english audience his name seems like an almost unbelievably lazy riff — the “Wa” from Wario, plus Luigi. Whereas Wario's central nature is jealousy, Waluigi's center is self-pity. In this sense his color, purple, the color of royalty, makes sense — he views himself as a deposed prince, deserving all and getting little.

As Luigi is the brother and supporter, Waluigi is the twisted enabler, the self-pitying perverter. He is agile — villainously good at tennis and dancing. He is a boastful cheater whose cheats frequently resolve to a disadvantage. While he's a villain in some games, he's a playable character in others.

This Waluigi Day (again, April 1, if video game message boards and tweets from the singer of My Chemical Romance are to be trusted), we recommend tennis, dancing, being a scheming friend to a bellicose bumbler, and drinking enough coffee to get psychotically agitated. While we can't recommend self-pity, even in jest, we do recommend eating disgusting miserable snack food, which has a strong association with self-pity. You don't have to wear overalls (the standard uniform for humanoids in the mushroom kingdom) but do try to comport yourself with the malignant vanity of a dictator, insisting that something ugly or inelegant is in fact very refined.

In the same way that we welcome sobriety with great relief on January 1st, or a light salad the day after Thanksgiving, we welcome back good spirits and a convivial supportive nature on April 2nd, when we resume our Luigi reality. But that is a world away from here. For now, and from the depths of my deranged core, I would like to wish all you jumping punks a twisted and nefarious Waluigi day! Waaaa!!!!!

Jacob Khepler is the main writer and publisher of Mothers News. He lives in Providence, Rhode Island.