Bowsette: An Investigation

Two weeks ago, society was blessed (cursed?) with the revelation that Toadette can use a magic crown to turn into a human-like figure uncannily resembling Princess Peach, known as Peachette. This, of course, had deeper, darker implications for the Mario world — does this crown let anyone turn into a Peach-like form?

Of course, the internet scurried to answer this question.

Why should the powers of Peach-shifting transformation be left solely to Toadette? Surely the other characters in the Mario universe can use this magical crown in order to transcend their forms and embrace their princess side? Where is the equality in the Mario world?

Enter Bowsette.

On Sept. 19, almost a week after Peachette’s reveal, Twitter user @ayyk92 posted a comic about Peach romantically rejecting Mario. Despondent, Mario turns towards Bowser, who wordlessly holds up the magical transformation crown. The final panel depicts a dark and edgy Peach-like figure, with Bowser’s horns and studded jewelry.

This Bowser-turned-Peach was dubbed Bowsette by fans. (Which, sidebar, makes no sense, because the “ette” comes from Toadette, not from Peach, so the more logical name would’ve been Beach or Boweach or Powser or literally anything else — but I digress).

Variations of Bowsette exploded across the internet, with artists trying their own versions of this hybrid. Some stuck true to the first version; others thought the initial version needed more Bowser and changed the coloring of Bowsette.

And of course, now that there’s a version of Bowser with boobs, the internet is doing what the internet does best and indulging in some very NSFW versions of Bowsette. Slap some stereotypical feminine features on the King Koopa, and now everyone is apparently horny for Bowser. See the most tame of these Bowsette thirst pictures below.

But while there’s a subset of the internet drawing up-skirt shots of Bowsette, there’s also a branch using this as an opportunity to draw a female video game character with a different body type or more monstrous features than princess ones.

If you’re going to create a hybrid of the monstrous King Koopa, you gotta commit.

Though not officially part of the Mario universe, the possibility of Bowsette raises some questions to the Peachette theory. We had previously assumed that it was just members of the Mushroom kingdom who could achieve upward evolution by using the crown, with the evidence that Peach herself used to resemble a Toad-like being. But if Bowsette’s existence is a valid part of the Mario universe, then that means Peach has been keeping the magic of species mobility not only from the Mushroom Kingdom, but also from the Koopas.

No wonder Bowser wants to kidnap her.

Of course, there’s not yet confirmation that Bowsette is plausible, so Peach’s treachery and species elitism may just be limited to the Mushroom Kingdom. Who knows! Whatever it is — Peach, you got some explaining to do.

Update (9/29): Apparently Nintendo had a version of Princess Bowser at one point. Oh yes.

The Art of Super Mario Odyssey shipped today in Japan and one fan found a very special concept sketched and shared it on Twitter. The sketch features a rendering of Bowser after using his own version of Cappy known as a “Koopa Cap,” which allows him to take over the body of whomever it hits. In the short comic depicted, he uses it to hit Princess Peach — and thus the predecessor to Bowsette, the OG Princess Bowser, is born. Behold her.

Peach Bowser has more Bowser features than the original design — the sharp teeth, the flaming red locks, the draconic tail — so while it is certainly valid to draw her blonde and with a gratuitous bosom, the mother of all Bowsette’s was a mean, ol’ monster lady.

Japanese site J-Cast had previously spoken to Nintendo about Bowsette, and the company acknowledge that it knew of her, but declined to make any further statements. Perhaps Nintendo felt like it made a mistake by not going through on its greatest creation. Perhaps it was just biding its time, waiting for the reveal that Peach Bowser has been canon all along.

The Art of Super Mario Odyssey does not yet have a release date in North America, but fan demand for a glimpse of canonical Peach Bowser may push Nintendo to release it faster.