Hidden Details: Everyone is Celebrating - the first 8 panels

Hey everyone! It's a BEAUTIFUL day! Smash Ultimate has been released, Joker from Persona 5 was revealed as a DLC Fighter during the Game Awards and we just got to see the first trailer for Avengers: Endgame. It's a wonderful day to be a geek!

I'll be revealing some hidden details in the first 8 panels of the big Everyone is Celebrating December special. The REAL hidden details, running jokes and interconnected stuff will come when the thing is done, so it'll be a bit mild this week. I don't really mind though, because I REALLY want to start playing Smash so let's get this over with okay?

Okay.

There aren't many hidden details going on in the first panel. I can only say that Lucina's present has no significance whatsoever. The present she tries to swap does. But that won't be revealed for a while. Isabelle's pile of paperwork will play a role in the very last panel to be revealed. Isn't that mysterious?

The His & Hers mallets was an idea by /u/Zeebor. I asked Reddit for present-ideas and they came up with A LOT of stuff so expect me to give credit to the comedic geniuses of Reddit quite a few times more from now on! These mallets did spark a bit of a debate on the relationship of the Ice Climbers. Apparently (I did some research) their connection isn't clear. Lots of people view them as siblings, but Sakurai (and myself) prefer to think of them as lovers. NOT as both siblings and lovers. They're not Lannisters. I think.

Mega Man gets Mighty No. 9, a game released in 2016, created by the original creator of Mega Man, Keiji Inafune. It was supposed to be Mega Man's spiritual successor. The only problem was that the game sucked. I don't really know why I wanted to tease Mega Man like that, but I think it's because Roel (who might be reading this right now since he's a Patron), who is a HUGE Mega Man fan, told an hilarious story about how he felt utterly betrayed by Mighty No. 9 and that he still has the Wii U version of the game, unopened, still in plastic wrap. There's just something very funny and sad about that.

Pikachu is both a reference to this meme and the Detective Pikachu trailer. Bayonetta painting Madama Butterfly's nails is just a cutesy thing I came up with, but I was pretty happy with the clever name of the nail polish: Umbra Umber. Bayonetta is known as the Umbra Witch. You can also see part of a Hot Wheels track in this panel. You'll soon know who it belongs to but I think most of you can already make a guess.

Ganondorf and his gift are callbacks to the Evil Memes comic. He wears the same Adidas-Triforce shirt in that comic and he's called grandpa by Ridley. Ganondorf also used to have a skin in Smash with white hair that was often called "Old Manondorf". His present is referencing that skin as well.

Meta Knight's present is a paper mask set of several Kirby characters. He has donned the Marx mask, but he apparently doesn't like it. I personally think he does like it, but he feels like he has a reputation of being a dark and brooding character to uphold.

Cloud's present might be a bit obscure. It's a Final Fantasy VII soundtrack (the game in which he debuted, I think) and he's super happy with that because there are only two music tracks to choose from when you're fighting on the Final Fantasy stage in Smash Bros (called Midgar). Fans are really displeased with this, especially since there's LOTS of great Final Fantasy tracks that would fit really well with the stage.

Bowser Jr.'s present is a bit more straightforward. It's a painting set, since he has a magical paintbrush in Super Mario Sunshine (his first appearance). He also thinks Peach is his mom in that game, which is why he has painted her in this panel. Who has ruined his painting is still a mystery to the general public, but you will most likely know by next Thursday since you get exclusive first looks!

Ivysaur drinking a Bulba Beer is a reference to this older comic (look at what's happening in the background). Squirtle's shades are a reference to his appearance in the Pokémon anime in which he was part of the Squirtle Squad and wore those super trendy shades. I've always loved that design, I wish there was an alternate costume in Smash with Squirtle wearing those shades. Charizard gets his rock back! He had a move called Rock Smash in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U/3DS, but in Ultimate, the move has been replaced by the move that allows Pokémon Trainer to swap between Pokémon and Flare Blitz. The Pokémon Trainer himself gets a Mew that asks for $50. This is me being angry about Nintendo selling Mew for $50: if you want to get Mew in the new Pokémon Let's Go games, you HAVE to buy the Pokéball Plus accessory. You can't import Mew from Pokémon Go or catch it the old fashioned way. You HAVE to buy that thing. I think this is basically a paywall and I think it's kinda disgusting. Especially since Mew has always been a mysterious Pokémon that was obtainable by doing a sequence of weird tasks or going to an official event where you could download Mew. Now, you just have to fork over some money for it. I don't like it.

Mario gets 2019 calendar with 12 sexy Bowsette images! Which is, of course, a reference to the Bowsette meme in general and the Evil Memes comic. These Bowsette images are all taken from the top posts of reddit.com/r/bowsette! I have a list with credits I should share soon on social media. You can already kinda see what will happen to Mario shortly after this moment if you look at the frying pan to the upper left of him.

Kirby is chilling in a HUGE trophy that declares him to be the #1 Best Boy. Every Smash fighter has written his/her name on it. This is because Kirby is the character who survived Galeem's beams in the World of Light trailer and thus the character you start with in the World of Light campaign of Super Smash Bros Ultimate. Which I will start playing in literally a few minutes by the way. You basically use him to save/unlock everyone. And in this panel, he has been properly rewarded!

Falco is being suspicious towards the Duck Hunt duck because he thinks he might try to steal the bread he got as a present. This is a reference to a common mishearing of his Brawl taunt "hands off my prey!" ("hands off my bread!"). You can also see some mysterious drawings on both the dog and the duck! I wonder who could have made those...

Joker from Persona 5 was LITERALLY just announced as the first DLC character for Smash Ultimate. Luckily, this panel was a bit empty with the low-positioned Falco and Duck Hunt Duo, so it was the perfect panel to put another (long, lanky) character in. So I added Joker in the very last minute. He receives a very cool espresso machine in the Persona 5 colors. I'd kill to have a machine like that. In Persona 5, he lives above a coffee shop if my research is correct, and there's a minigame in which you can brew coffee! He's also wearing a shirt that says "We live in a society", which is a reference to (another) meme involving a different Joker. 

And that's it! Now if you'll excuse me, I have the ultimate Smash game to play!! See you all next week! Have a wonderful weekend :)

Cheers!

- Abel