View source for Roommates: These Are My Reflections

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'''''Roommates: These Are My Reflections''''' is an ongoing{{when}} series of online-published stories. Part of the ''[[Roommates (2009 webcomic)|Roommates]]'' canon, it is a [[How We Got Here]] for Bowser Koopa, Jr. in his childhood, before going to college or meeting his current boyfriend Giancarlo Rosato. It also involves the members of his family -- his father Bowser, and his siblings Ludwig, Lemmy, Roy, Iggy, Wendy, Morton and Larry, and some of their friends. Whereas the main ''Roommates'' comic is created by [http://www.furaffinity.net/user/dreamous Dreamous] and [http://www.furaffinity.net/user/spelunkersal Spelunker Sal], ''These Are My Reflections'' is written by session writer [http://www.furaffinity.net/user/treiii TreIII].

Unlike the relatively limited medium of [[Web Comics]] in ''Roommates'', ''These Are My Reflections'' is a far more detailed account that attempts to flesh out the characters of Junior at age 17, Bowser at age 50, and Junior's siblings all as adults. They aren't up to quite the same antics they were during their younger years in the ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]'' [[Canon]] universe...nor were they ever villains in this particular [[Alternate Universe Fic]]. The family is affluent, living in a family mansion, Koopa Manor. Bowser [[Cut Lex Luthor a Check|makes a living]] operating a worldwide chain of hotels, [[Fiction 500|Koopa Suites]], and his children live (relatively) ordinary domestic lives -- ordinary for super-rich upper class, at least. They retain their colorful personalities, but ''These Are My Reflections'' is decidedly more [[Slice of Life]].

''These Are My Reflections'' is published at the ''[http://www.furaffinity.net/user/roommates/ Roommates]'' page on [[Fur Affinity]]. Most (but not all) of its chapters are flagged mature for mature themes and dialogue, and a registered [[Fur Affinity]] account is required to view them. Suffice it to say that the story as a complete whole is [[Not Safe for Work]]. The first chapter (worksafe and viewable by all) is [http://www.furaffinity.net/view/2287685/ here], and links to the following chapter, and so on.

{{tropelist}}
* [[Alternate Universe Fic]]: [[Word of God]]. In this particular universe, there are no [[Super Mario Bros.]], there is no Mushroom Kingdom, and the Koopa family is a business empire instead of a family of warlords. And while it has Kamek, he is not a ''magical'' magikoopa -- no one can perform magic (though something can be said about his magical ability to be Bowser's highly capable) [[Beleaguered Assistant]]).
* [[Author Appeal]]: TreIII is an avid gamer. ''These Are My Reflections'' goes deep into gamer culture.
* [[California]]: The home state of this particular version of the Koopa family.
* [[Captain Ersatz]]:
** [[Black Entertainment Television|Crunk Entertainment Television]].
** [[Deviant ART|DivergentArt]].
** [[Jerry Springer|Drago Neery]].
** Fictional film maker Kaa Sobekberry, whose name is a play on [http://www.furaffinity.net/user/kaa/ Kaa Bakensobek], another [[Lizard Folk|scaly]] artist based on [[Fur Affinity]].
** [[Myspace|My]][[Facebook|face]].
** [[Notorious B.I.G.|Snortorious LAX]]. <ref>[[Pokémon|Snorlax]], [[Don't Explain the Joke|folks]].</ref>
** [[Tupac Shakur|Twokat Mewkur]]. <ref>[[Pokémon|Mewtwo]], [[Don't Explain the Joke|people]].</ref>
** [[Super Smash Bros.|Wonder Bash Bros. Melee]]. This [[Alternate Universe Fic]] has no in-universe real Mario and Luigi, but they still do exist as characters in video games played in-universe. But instead of fighting Bowser, they fight a demon ox king named Yukke. See the [[Mythology Gag]] bullet.
* [[Coming Out Story]]: Junior's.
* [[Conspicuous Consumption]]: All the Koopalings do this to some degree. Bowser himself says that each of the kids usually spends more money in a year than it takes to raise a child from birth to adulthood.
* [[Conversational Troping]]: Roy and Junior do this a lot when discussing television and film.
* [[Creator Cameo]]:
** In-universe, Lemmy is the creator of a [[Web Comic]] called ''Spelunkers into Dreams'', a [[Shout-Out]] to Spelunker Sal and Dreamous.
** Before Junior was born, Bowser mulled over a variety of possible names for his youngest son. One of the candidates was Trey. <ref>The author's appellation is TreIII.</ref>
* {{spoiler|[[Doomed by Canon]]: No matter how much you want to see Junior and Jojo reconcile their differences and end up [[Happily Ever After]], the main comic has them officially split up and Junior with someone else.}}
* [[Double Entendre]]: Even ''before'' Junior was [[Coming Out Story|out of the closet]], Junior and Roy would enjoy intentionally sprinkling conversations with [[Homoerotic Subtext|homoerotic]] [[Double Entendre]] that sounds superficially like [[Un Entendre]], just to annoy hilariously insecure [[Heteronormative Crusader|Larry]]. While doing so, they would occasionally glance at Larry to see if he was reacting to it or not. [[Berserk Button|Sometimes they didn't even have to check.]]
* [[Everybody Has Lots of Sex]]: It seems like the only ones who ''aren't'' having lots of sex, are those who for whatever reason ''can't'' have it. This is mainly an informed attribute in what is mostly an R-rated story.
* [[Explicit Content]]: Largely [[Averted Trope|averted]] -- there is ''one'' described sex scene, and even that is more awkward than sexy, helping to advance the plot and establish Junior and Jojo's relationship. ''These Are My Reflections'' is a very long story and is full of mature themes and adult humor, but this one scene is a tiny sliver of the overall story. Other sexual situations are mentioned, but not described in detail.
* [[Family Disunion]]: And how!
* [[Fantasy Counterpart Culture]]: [[Word of God]] from TreIII is that the Koopa family's culture is equivalent to African American, as [[Lizard Folk|scalies]] are a minority in a society of [[Petting Zoo People|furries]]. The Koopa family also has some [[Our Dragons Are Different|Eastern Dragon]] lineage through Bowser's ancestry, implying Asian descent as well. The ''Roommates'' team chose intentionally not to follow a specifically Korean or [[Zainichi Korean]] ethnic angle for the Koopa family itself, allowing the reader to use their own imagination.
* [[Fiction 500]]: Koopa Suites, an international hotel conglomerate that is the Koopa family business.
* [[Futureshadowing]]: After Junior and Jojo had their first sexual encounter, the two have an exchange that mirrors the moment after Gian and Junior in the future would also have their first sexual encounter.
{{quote|'''Junior:''' "So...does this mean we're together now...?"
'''Jojo:''' "Sure, Bowsie, I'd like that." }}
* [[Gay Aesop]]: It may be tempting to maintain increasingly elaborate lies and pretenses to [[Coming Out Story|stay in the closet]]. But this is actually harmful, not helpful, and it too easily spirals out of control. [[Honesty Is the Best Policy]].
* [[Good Parents]]: Bowser and Peach were always good parents to their children. Even with Peach gone and their youngest child reaching adulthood, Bowser is still a great father. This is in stark contrast to Bowser's own father Rufus, who is one of the most horrendous fathers you could ever meet.
* [[How We Got Here]]: This is Junior's backstory of parts of his childhood with his family.
* [[N-Word Privileges|L-Word Privileges]]: "Lizza" is a slang term for person of [[Lizard Folk|scaly]] descent. Change the L to an N, and the Zs to Gs, and you get the basic gag. Roy, Morton and Rufus are most likely to throw this word around, and are incidentally also the characters with the strongest African American Vernacular English speech. Wendy sometimes does. Ludwig, Lemmy, Iggy, Larry and Junior are closer to General American English, and almost never say "lizza".
* [[Mr. Fanservice]]: There are very few male characters with existing portrait artwork who ''arent'' this. Bowser, Roy, Morton, Hanbei, Jojo. Even Billy and Jimmy, to a degree. Averted for Lemmy, Iggy and Larry, who are drawn more average in appearance. In-universe, it is said that all of the Koopa family tries to keep themselves physically fit in some way -- with Roy at one extreme who's constantly bodybuilding and doing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and Iggy at the other extreme who walks on a treadmill maybe once every two weeks.
* [[Ms. Fanservice]]: Wendy actually manages to be this in artwork and for those readers who are straight men or lesbians. Rufus's [[Digimon|renamon]] escort Deena is invoked as this as well from her description, though more obviously justified in that she's likely a [[High-Class Call Girl]].
* [[Mythology Gag]]:
** In the first chapter, Roy and Junior sit down watching an episode of a tacky TV series, ''[[Show Within a Show|Cheaters]]'', which candidly films people cheating on their significant others and then confronting them with it. In this episode they're watching, a [[Super Mario Bros. 2|Birdo]] woman is cheating on her [[Super Mario World (video game)|Yoshi]] boyfriend with a [[Super Mario Bros. 2|Mouser]] guy. When confronted, the Birdo woman asks how neither of them ever noticed that [[She's a Man In Japan|she's actually a man]], but had planned to get gender reassignment surgery soon. This is in reference to how the video game character Birdo is actually a male-to-female [[Transgender]].
** In the third chapter, Bowser's assistant [[Yoshi's Island|Kamek]] interrupts Bowser in his family greeting with Hanbei to discuss the affairs of [[Hotel Mario|Koopa Suites]]. Kamek mentions some of their business partners, including [[Donkey Kong Country|Kremling Tech]] and [[Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins|Tatanga Enterprises]].
** Upon their first meeting, the twins Billy and Jimmy asked the similarly-rainbow-haired Lemmy and Iggy if [[The Adventures of Super Mario Bros 3|they are also twins]].
** Bowser's deceased wife, Claudia Koopa, was nicknamed Peach. But she wasn't ''[[Word of God|that]]'' [[Super Mario Bros.|Peach]] -- she was a koopa, like the rest of the family.
** Roy's nickname for his newer, more spacious bedroom with a skylight? "[[Sir Swearsalot|MUTHAFUCKIN']] [[Super Mario Bros 3|SKYLAND]]!"
** When Roy and Hanbei are playing ''[[Guilty Gear]] XX'' against each other, Iggy playfully calls them "Almighty Pink Craig" vs. "The Blue Demon King: [[Gratuitous Japanese|Ao Maoh]]". In Japan, Bowser is called ''Dai Maoh Kuppa'', meaning "Great Demon King Koopa".
** Since Bowser and his family are ''[[Alternate Universe Fic|not video game characters]]'' in this story, there is a demon ox character in ''[[Super Smash Bros.|Wonder Bash Bros. Melee]]'' named Yukke. This is in reference to one of Shigeru Miyamoto's alternate candidates for naming Bowser before he settled on Kuppa. Both クッパ kuppa (국밥 gukbap) and ユッケ yukke (육회 yukhoe) are Korean dishes popular in Japan, and Miyamoto wanted to name the character after a Korean dish. The ox is in reference to Miyamoto's possible species considerations before he settled on a turtle.
** In chapter 9 part 2, Roy is cooking breakfast in the kitchen in his room that Wendy had installed for him.
{{quote|'''Roy:''' "Yeah, yeah... So what will it be, Ms. Thang?"
'''Wendy:''' "Chocolate chip pancakes, if you please. And don't be stingy with the Nestle, if you know what I mean! I need a trip to the [[Super Mario World (video game)|Land of Chocolate]] in the worst way." }}
** Their mother Peach was said to [[Super Mario 64|make the best cakes]]. She wasn't ''that'' [[Name's the Same|Peach]], but it was still funny.
** In chapter 10, Junior and his [[The Beard|date]] Babs have arrived at their senior prom, and are making conversation.
{{quote|'''Junior:''' "When I was really young, I used to think of myself as the little artist. So, there weren't too many days that went by, where I would randomly go around, [[Super Mario Sunshine|using my paintbrush to paint all over the damn place]]. My family's house, my classroom, some of my brothers and sister's things, at the park, etc., etc..."}}
* [[Narm Charm]]/[[So Bad It's Good]]: In-universe example. Junior likes bad [[B-Movie|B-movies]], [[Conversational Troping|explaining]] precisely because they're so [[Narm|unintentionally funny]] and [[So Bad It's Good|so bad they're good]].
** CROSSFIYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!
*** To [[Only Sane Woman|Wendy]] though, it's just plain [[Narm]].
* [[No True Scotsman]]: Junior comes from a [[Fantasy Counterpart Culture|Koopa American]] family. But because of his more General American speech and mannerisms, in high school he was sometimes accused of not being truly "[[N-Word Privileges|lizza]]" enough. This happened even at home, where Morton accused both Junior and Ludwig alike of this. In chapter 7, in Roy's room, when Morton accused Junior of this and Morton refused to relent, Roy angrily picked Morton up by his neck, carried him outside his room, and gave him an ass-whupping. Roy then returned and apologized for the unscheduled "[[The Boondocks|lizza moment]]".
* [[Platonic Life Partners]]: Roy and Hanbei are one of the [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|sweetest]] love stories in the ''Roommates'' universe. And it's completely platonic. Not that there is no [[Ship Tease]]...
* [[Red Oni, Blue Oni]]: Pink-domed Roy and blue-scaled Hanbei have this trope nailed.
* [[Removable Shell]]: Specifically noted when Hanbei first arrives -- almost none of the Koopa clan, even Bowser, are wearing their normal spiked shells. Junior and Wendy explain that it has become popularly fashionable for [[We All Live in America|American]] turtles to live and be seen without their shells, wearing clothes directly over their unshelled bodies. Ludwig alone opts to keep wearing his shell. The story further explains that modern people of turtle descent are born with shells, that are eventually shed as vestigial organs. However, there are a wide variety of manufactured shells that turtles usually wear throughout their lives, with the exception of the recent fashion trend. Shells are also expected turtle formalwear, and Junior wears an elegant white shell with his white tux for his senior prom.
* [[Rule of Drama]]: What else would you expect from a [[Family Disunion]]?
* [[Sex Equals Love]]: Junior and Jojo's relationship starts out the same way Junior and Gian's relationship does in the future. Unfortunately, at first, this carries the same problems of starting an informed relationship without the audience understanding the way their chemistry works. Fortunately for ''These Are My Reflections'', the written word is much easier to produce than a page of a [[Web Comic]], so Junior and Gian's relationship is fleshed out in greater detail than Junior and Gian have ever gotten. This is true especially ''after'' Junior and Jojo break up, and you get to see how Junior really did love Jojo emotionally and intellectually, and not just physically. {{spoiler|And when Jojo rescues Junior after Babs beats him up, we see, in return, that Jojo really did care about Junior too.}} If only that kind of chemistry had been clear when they were ''still together''.
* [[Ship Tease]]: Roy pinning down Hanbei with great big smiles on their faces while practicing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
* [[Shout-Out]]/[[Product Placement]]: The story makes a tidal wave of direct or blatant oblique references to various works and domestic commercial products, largely to add both domestic and [[One of Us|geek]] appeal to this [[Slice of Life]] story:
** [[4chan]].
** A1 Steak Sauce.
** ''[[Aliens vs. Predator]]''.
** ''[[Bible Adventures]]'', referred to in-story as a [[So Bad It's Horrible (Darth Wiki)|kusoge]].
** Blackberry phones.
** Carls Jr. restaurants.
** ''[[Action 52]] II'', referred to in-story as a [[So Bad It's Horrible (Darth Wiki)|kusoge]].
** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCwn1NTK-50 CROSSFIYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!]. Junior and all his brothers (with the exception of Ludwig) even spontaneously break out into singing [[Narm Charm|the Crossfire commercial jingle]], much to Wendy's annoyance.
** ''[[Crystal Castles (video game)|Crystal Castles]]''.
** ''[[Dance Dance Revolution]]''.
** ''[[Defender]] II'', which is Bowser's favorite video game.
** ''[[Dynasty Warriors]]''.
** '''[[Star Fox 64|"GO FOR THE HATCHES ON THE UNDERSIDE!"]]'''
** ''[[GoldenEye 007 (1997 video game)|Golden Eye 1997]]'', the [[Nintendo 64]] game.
** ''[[Guilty Gear]]''.
** [[Street Fighter|Hadouken]].
** Hot Pockets pastries.
** [[Dinosaurs|"I'm the baby, gotta love me!"]].
** ''[[The Incredibles]]''.
** IHOP restaurants.
** ''[[I Love Lucy]]''.
** [[JAM Project]].
** ''[[Jane Eyre]]''.
** [[Dragon Ball|Kamehameha]].
** ''[[King of Fighters]]''.
** ''[[Kunio-Kun|Kunio no Nekketsu Dodgeball Densetsu]]''.
** ''[[Lethal Weapon 3]]''.
** [[Lifetime]].
** "[[The Boondocks|Lizza moment]]".
** [[MAME]].
** ''[[Marvel vs. Capcom]]''.
** ''[[The Matrix]]''.
** McDonald's restaurants.
** ''[[Men in Black (film)|Men in Black]]''.
** ''[[Mortal Kombat (video game)|Mortal Kombat]]''.
** ''[[Mortal Kombat (film)|Mortal Kombat]]'' and ''[[Mortal Kombat: Annihilation]]'', which Roy and Hanbei watched back to back instead of attending their senior prom, for a fun night of [[Snark Bait]].
** Mott's fruit punch.
** ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]''.
** ''[[Naruto]]''.
** Nestle chocolate.
** ''[[Pac-Man]]''.
** [[The Boondocks|A Pimp Named Slickback]].
** Popeye's Chicken restaurants.
** Quicken software.
** ''[[Revenge of the Sith]]''.
** ''[[River City Ransom]]''.
** ''[[Romance of the Three Kingdoms]]''.
** [[Ranma ½|Ryoga Hibiki]].
** ''[[Shaq Fu]]''.
** ''[[Shonen Jump]]''.
** ''[[Soul Calibur]]''.
** ''[[Strawberry Shortcake]]''.
** ''[[Super Mario Bros. (film)|Super Mario Bros]]'' the movie, but never directly by name.
{{quote|'''Iggy:''' "[[Take That|And besides, that live-action movie from the '90s SUCKED!]]"}}
** ''[[Super Robot Wars]]''.
** ''[[Tekken]]''.
** ''[[Tess of the D'Urbervilles]]''.
** TNT.
** [[Urban Dictionary]].
** [[Dragonball Z|Vegeta]].
** [[Wikipedia]].
** ''[[World of Warcraft]]''.
* [[Shown Their Work]]
* [[Slice of Life]]
* [[Twofer Token Minority]]: In addition to Hanbei being both [[Japan|Japanese]] and [[Word of God|Afro]]-[[Brazil (useful notes)|Brazilian]], the Koopa family belong to a [[Fantasy Counterpart Culture]] of African Americans, and they also have some dragon ancestry from East Asia through Bowser's lineage. And, ironically, at least one member of their extended family (Rufus) is ''extremely'' racist against Asians. [[Truth in Television]] that most African Americans are not wholly African in descent, and usually have a moderate percentage of ancestors who came from other "race" groups, often white or Native American, but also sometimes Asian.
* [[We All Live in America]]: In this particular incarnation, the Koopa family are unabashedly ''American''.
* [[Word of God]]/[[Jossed]]: TreIII sometimes answers questions, including for [[TV Tropes]], but only information that doesn't spoil the rest of the story.
** The full names of the Koopalings are extended from the real people [[Nintendo]] named them after, within reason.
*** Larry Koopa is Lawrence Harvey Koopa, after Lawrence Harvey ''Zeiger'', the birth name of [[wikipedia:Larry King|Larry King]].
*** Morton Koopa, Jr. is Morton Sean Koopa, Jr., after Sean Morton ''Downey'', Jr., the birth name of [[wikipedia:Morton Downey Jr|Morton Downey, Jr.]]. Sean and Morton were swapped because Morton Koopa, Jr. is specifically named after Bowser's own grandfather who was also named Morton, and having them both named "Sean Morton" instead of "Morton Sean" would be awkward across three generations.
*** Wendy O. Koopa is Wendy Orlean Koopa, after Wendy Orlean ''Williams'', the full name of [[wikipedia:Wendy O. Williams|Wendy O. Williams]].
*** Roy Koopa was already fully-named in-story as Roy Kelton Koopa, after Roy Kelton ''Orbison'', the full name of [[wikipedia:Roy Orbison|Roy Orbison]]. When TreIII was asked if this was a pattern for the other Koopalings' names, [[Ascended Fanon|he confirmed it]]. However, there are exceptions:
*** Iggy Koopa is ''Ignatius'' Koopa, since [[wikipedia:Iggy Pop|Iggy Pop]]'s real name is James Newell Osterberg, Jr., and adapting this to Iggy Koopa would have been too unworkable.
*** Lemmy Koopa is ''Lemmington'' Koopa, since [[wikipedia:Lemmy|Lemmy]] is a stage name of ambiguous origin, with no relation to that performer's real name, Ian Fraser Kilmister.
*** Bowser already explained in-story that Ludwig von Koopa was specifically named after [[Ludwig Van Beethoven]] because Beethoven music was playing at Bowser and Peach's honeymoon where Ludwig was conceived. No [[Word of God]] naming clarification required.
* [[World of Snark]]
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