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I have a really spicy rant I've been kicking around in my head for the better part of 2 years. I've wanted to talk about it, but it's highly speculative and might turn some of the more unhealthy hardcore Nintendo fans against me. I'm considering testing the waters on Bluesky. 😛 Do I dare?

Long story short, I think Nintendo did an arguably bad thing that fell under the radar, and they haven't really been called out much for it. I'm really not one for drama/tabloid-type content, but I do feel some responsibility to hold them accountable with my platform.

This concerns Charles Martinet's stepping down from the voice roles of Mario, Luigi, Wario, and co. This is NOT about Kevin Afghani, the current voice of Mario, whom I have nothing but love and respect for. I'm worried that some people might overreact and try to give him a hard time by association.

I have become convinced that Charles Martinet was let go from his voice roles (and assigned an ill-defined honorary role of "Mario Ambassador", an intentional PR decision) by Nintendo, likely as a result of some completely benign Twitter posts that Nintendo leadership may have been disgruntled by.

In the days following the announcement of Chris Pratt's casting as Mario in the SMB movie, fellow VA Tara Strong (a personal friend of Charles) reached out to her Twitter followers to ask for his fans to share stories and pics of meeting him to lift his spirits. The news apparently hit him hard.

Sorry to link to the dead bird site, but for context: x.com/tarastrong/s...

Charles responds gratefully, expressing "My little eyes seem to be leaking today… with tender affection. Thank you…" A day earlier, Tara shared a photo of the pair together with the words, "It should be Charles." This may have threatened Nintendo's squeaky clean image in the eyes of stakeholders.

10 months later, the Mario movie has been out for a while, and Nintendo announces (via tweet) that Charles is stepping away from his life's work to become a "Mario Ambassador". 2 weeks later, during a convention Q&A Charles says, "I don't know what that is yet". That decision was made for him.

At this point, I have to give a recommendation for @shesez.bsky.social's excellent video on this topic. He goes much more in-depth than I'm able to here in his coverage (linked below). Highly recommended viewing if you want to learn more. youtu.be/O0BTCdisHPs

At a bare minimum, it seems clear to me that: - Something regarding the SMB Movie's casting and/or production was apparently quite painful for Charles Martinet - Charles' contract as an actor for Nintendo was not renewed, despite his hope to play the characters "until I'm 105 years old"

In the years following, Charles has clarified on multiple occasions that he's not retired as a voice actor, and he is thrilled whenever he has an opportunity to work. He has not once expressed a desire or intent to walk away from the characters he helped create throughout the 90s and beyond.

You'll notice that when he's been asked about stepping down, he's quick to pivot to saying how much he loves to do the characters, and even continues to refine his performance nearly 2 years after his demotion. I suspect an NDA prevents him from discussing any details regarding the events.